Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig 2 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig This Issue REVIEWS

18. Audeze LCD-XC Headphones

29. Oppo PM1 Headphones July 2014 Issue 8 36. Final Audio Heaven II and www.hifipig.com Heaven IV In-Ear Monitors Telephone: +33 (0)2 97 23 70 78 E mail: [email protected] 39. Sennheiser HD800 Headphones Siret - 488 244 898 00018 47. Final Pandora Hope VI REGULARS Headphones 6. Stuart Smith Comment 52. Hifiman HE-560 Planar Magnetic Headphones 7. John Scott Comment 57. Stax SR-407 Headphones 8. Behind The Brands with Mark Sears of The Missing Link and Vinyl 60. Stax SR-009 Headphones Passion 63. Focal Spirit One S Headphones 14. Readers System 67. HifiMan RE-400 In Ear 91. Album reviews Headphones

95. The Classics - Deep Purple - 68. GOJI Tinchy Stryder On Cloud 9 Made In Japan Headphones

70. Lehmann Audio Traveller Headphone Amplifier

74. Epiphany Acoustics EHP-02Di – Headphone Amplifier & USB DAC

77. Graham Slee Voyager Headphone Amplifier

80. AudioValve Verto and RKV Mk 3 Headphone Amplifiers

84. Tisbury Audio CA-1 Reference Headphone Ampifier

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Stuart Smith explains why…

here’s something very satisfactory about listening to your favourite music on Theadphones. First of all is the isolation from increasingly sophisticated to cater for a burgeoning the outside world that it gives you that dictates that market that are no longer satisfied with a pair of you have no option other than to get lost in the music earbuds and an iPod. without distraction. Secondly there’s that Then there’s the whole beats generation that, as John exaggerated separation of instruments as there’s no Scott mentions in his following article, are bleed over from one channel to the next that you potentially the audiophile market of tomorrow. Say obviously get with live music or whilst listening on a what you will about the infamous beats headphones conventional pair of loudspeakers. but what they have managed to do is turn their Then there’s the fact that you can enjoy your tunes heavily celebrity endorsed headphone business into a on the bus, on the train, whilst away on business or Billion dollar enterprise that controls around 70% of any time up find yourself away from your main the premium headphone market (23% of total global system. This is where I tend to find myself listening headphone revenues…Futurescope Consulting) on headphones most of the time, though I do have Where the headphone market would be today if it quite a nice little headphone set up for when I’m were not for this brand’s involvement? feeling a tad isolationist…or more likely the rest of According to Futurescope Consulting, the AV the family want to watch something on the tragic headphone market had a revenue forecast worldwide lantern. in 2013 of 8.2 Billion dollars, made up of 284 million units being shipped. They anticipate that The AV headphone growth in this market will increase up until 2017 until growth levels out. market had a revenue These are big numbers and encouraging figures to my mind. The more people we have exploring music forecast worldwide in and finding new (and older) music to buy can only be a good thing for the industry. 2013 of 8.2 Billion And this is in part why we at Hifi Pig chose to dedicate a month to nothing but the review of dollars, made up of headphones. Of course you don’t have to spend a King’s ransom to get good quality sound from 284 million units being headphones and this is why we have searched out headphones ranging from just £60 to the more exotic shipped. models costing over £1000. I hope you enjoy reading our reviews Headphones and the associated kit that go with them and rest assured there will be more to like headphone amplifiers, portable headphone amplifiers, portable DAC/headphone amplifiers, after come in September as we have been market cables and a whole lot more are becoming inundated with samples to review…

6 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Editorial Hifi Pig contributor John Scott talks headphones and asks if this is how we attract a new generation of audiophiles. Maybe, just maybe, As it's headfi month here at Hifi Pig I have been having a bit of a think about headphones. Last people who like to month, I suggested that if you are happy to take photos on a phone then you are more likely to buy a listen to music using a better phone than buy a camera. Similarly, if you listen to music on an iPod dock then you are more headphone amp and a likely to upgrade to a better iPod dock than to a proper hifi system. I've been wondering if the same pair of ‘phones will kind of thing holds true for headphones. upgrade to a full blown Portable audio started with the Sony Walkman in 1979 Okay, you might argue that it started earlier amp and speaker set up. with the portable transistor radio but I would contend that you are just being pedantic and that the Walkman was the first pocket-sized device (yes, I know, you did have to have big pockets) to let you happened but headphone listening has become a have a choice over the music you played. Evolving popular indoor pastime, not just an al fresco one. through the portable CD player and the MP3 player, Standalone hifi headphone amplifiers are very portable audio has become ever more popular and definitely a thing now - hardly a day goes by without with its inclusion in the smartphone's bag of tricks a new one coming onto the market and more people has become ubiquitous. than ever are choosing to opt for a headphone-based system over loudspeakers. As someone who likes to It goes without saying that now that nearly everyone sit in front of a pair of speakers and feel the air in the has a smartphone, nearly no one is without a pair of room move as they do their thing, I'm still getting my headphones. Most of those will be the crappy head round this but it's clearly a welcome earbuds that come bundled with the phone, but you development for the industry. In fact, it has struck just have to look around you on your daily commute me as I write this that the answer to the question I or as you wander down the street to see that people asked last month - how does the hifi industry attract are trading up their headphones. A fair bit of this is a new generation of purchasers? - could be answered to do with fashion of course. Dr Dre's Beats have in part by the rise in popularity of the headphone. helped to make headphones hip (or phat, or dope, or Maybe, just maybe, people who like to listen to something) and ultimately this can only be a good music using a headphone amp and a pair of ‘phones thing - like the upgrade path with camera phones and will upgrade to a full blown amp and speaker set up. iPod docks, people who like to listen to music on Which is not to suggest, of course, that a good headphones will hopefully upgrade to better 'phones, quality headphone-based system cannot be an end in not just better phones. itself. This month's magazine is chock-full of equipment that proves otherwise. So, if you have High quality expensive headphones are nothing new previously misinterpreted Suzi Quatro's advice and but never before has there been such a wide range canned the cans, now might be the time to available. I'm not sure exactly how or when it reconsider.

et in the Heart of Nottingham’s sumptuous these years of listening to equipment and setting up Sherwood Forest The Missing Link are the recording studios it is to remember that in choosing Ssubject of this months Dealer System where equipment price is not a constant relative to Quality. Mark Sears introduces us to their reference system Room acoustics is of fundamental importance and used in their “Vinyl Passion” Music Room. often overlooked

A badly set up room will sound bad regardless of choice of equipment. This is a deep subject with different options for each environment so we will not have time to go into detail here but just a little consideration in layout and some cleverly placed soft furnishings and textiles can often reap big rewards. The most common mistake with many systems I install is the listening environment . In choosing a whole system the most important point to remember is that the music source has to be right.

Our Vinyl Passion Reference System has evolved This is a very personal option and for me it is over several decades and we have been lucky enough analogue every time. Of course we sell digital to listen to many different products in our 35 years of equipment and I have tried the streaming route, involvement with the Hi Fi Industry. We have spending a lot of time comparing vinyl to FLAC on a represented many high end brands and gained insight very wide range of equipment and yes, the sound into differing design approaches, manufacturing engineer on the one side of me argues with the music methods and marketing strategies and if there is a lover on the other about what is technically correct single predominantly important factor learned from and possible but as the saying goes ‘the heart wants

Richard’s system neatly in place

9 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Dealer System what the heart wants’ so I realise that my true 12’s to order, offer upgrade fits & servicing for the preference has not changed over the years and I LP-12 Turntables to our customers and we supply always find myself going back to vinyl to get that the upgrades in kit form either direct or to our extra emotional layer that digital somehow fails to appointed dealers. offer. We use a variety of Tone Arms including Linn, SME, Audio Mods and Rega. Having chosen your source the clever part is Cartridges we use for preference are from Benz & synergy Sumiko. This is an art in itself and simply buying expensive high end equipment is no guarantee of a great sound - in fact I have listened to many well set up budget systems that would embarrass systems costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. As a sound engineer and a dealer with many years and thousands of hours of listening to different combinations of equipment I am always more than happy to give advice on equipment choices within set budgets.

So to begin I will start with the front end in the Vinyl Passion Music Room - The Analogue Source of our Music For me this has been a long winding journey in itself. As an equipment design engineer & music lover I For me this is the most musical turntable I have have personally collected & restored turntables & listened to retaining the musicality of the Linn but vinyl for many years as a hobby aside from my with the speed, dynamics and sound-staging of the company & dealership and so I have a large SME and both myself and the family make sure it collection of both Vinyl and Turntables. has plenty of use.

Kalos English Oak Plinth. VP Unity Two Sub- Chassis with Blue Springs and Unity Two Arm Board. VP Foundation Base Board. VP Orpheus Top Plate. VP Black Platter. VP Purple Acrylic Platter Mat. Linn Bearing. Jeff Spall Audio-Mods Tone Arm with Benz Glider Cartridge.

As a Dealer one of the brands we represent and my personal choice of Reference Turntable & Arm is SME, but we also specialise in Vinyl Passion VP-12 Turntables based on the Linn LP12

Our Turntable - Vinyl Passion VP-12 Our own Reference turntable is the Vinyl Passion VP-12 (pictured) built into one of the finest plinths available - a Kalos English Oak plinth. This is a heavily modified Linn LP-12 so much so all that is left of the original LP-12 is the main bearing (definitely the best part of the Linn) the rest is all of my own design and made from the finest aerospace grade materials available. We also custom build VP-

VP 12 Centripede Drive System turntables simultaneously to make easy comparisons on the fly with identical pressings - a great development and comparison tool for customers.

Phono Stage Valves all the way! Superb Performance from the Ming Da MC Phono 2006 mm/mc

Accessories Essential accessories for vinyl and really an extension of the system: Milty Zerostat Gun, Carbon record cleaning brush, VP Dust Buster Stylus Cleaner last but not least Moth RCM Pro cleaning machine.

Our unit has been re-valved with Russian Gold pin NOS Valves and having listened to many phono stages at many price points for me this is as good as it gets. Also having its own volume control we can skip the pre-amp for Reference listening sessions

Pre Amplifier Ming Da MD7-SE is used in our main system and this has been re-valved with 4 x JT Full Music 6sn7’s and a Golden Dragon rectifier and directly Support feeds One of Two sets of amplifiers from the phono I cannot emphasise enough the importance of good stage depending on music style that is being played. solid support. The equipment really needs to be supported properly and cables lain with thought and care. In our music room we use a good British brand that has been in the game for years - Apollo Hi Fi Furniture. They offer excellent value with custom colour finish and just to demonstrate how strong they are we have replaced our glass top turntable shelf with a 165kilo slab of granite on which we can run 2

Power Amplifier – ONE the small hours with the wonderful glow of the giant 805’s - who needs a log fire ?

The Vincent SP 331-MK 300w Power Amplifier is the most capable valve hybrid power amplifier I have ever encountered. When first compared to our existing stock after receiving one in part exchange 8 years ago I was totally astonished at the superb performance – especially for price. I had never even heard of the Vincent brand. We contacted Vincent direct and after conversing with their head office we are now the sole official UK importer. Needless to say the brand has made a big impression on me and Speakers over the years we have continued to compare the Vincent equipment to some very expensive alternatives from other manufacturers. I always try to keep an open mind and in my opinion the SP 331 still wears the crown at this level of performance for price - nothing close in my book as a good all- rounder - this will work well with all music from Led Zeppelin to Debussy to Nora Jones and everything in-between. The SP 331 offers speed and dynamics and a simple clarity that never fails to impress and it can drive any loudspeaker sitting rock steady on the most complex of tracks. A true Reference Grade Power Amplifier

Power Amplifier - TWO If I am in a female vocal or acoustic mood I will partner the Ming Da Phono Stage directly to our Ming Da 805

For simple music the Ming Da 805’s have the most rewarding sound you could wish for at any price and with a healthy output of 34 watts can easily drive the Quads whilst also working extremely well with Pro AC & Living Voice loudspeakers. Three dimensional holographic voices airily project into the room, stringed instruments sparkle with a vibrancy that has the to be heard to be believed; it is both beguiling and hypnotic and I often find myself listening into

Almost the last part in the chain and by no means the Summary least - the loudspeakers and being a sound engineer room acoustic and loudspeaker matching is very The equipment and set up in our VP Reference important. System is certainly not the most expensive high end If you are in the lucky position to have a large equipment available - more a labour of love in listening area Quad Electrostatics are arguably one of finding and engineering equipment that works the most accurate loudspeakers available and for this harmoniously together. very reason I have used them as an open window to We obviously have access to a wide range of assess equipment for more than 25 years. The first 20 equipment and we constantly receive new equipment years sticking to my trusty 57’s – now lucky enough in part exchange and regardless of brand or cost we to have a pair of 2805’s - for both musical always have a listen to everything available to us. reproduction and as a development tool they are Some things you expect to impress often fall short simply indispensable. An interesting geek point but the nicest surprise is when an old bit of kit comes about the Quad Electrostatic loud speaker is that it is in part exchange with a resale value of £50 and it the only loudspeaker in the world that can accurately simply sounds stunning. reproduce a square waveform! This shows it has the My pet hate in the Audio World, and I have most accurate phase response of any passive encountered it several times, is hi fi snobbery. loudspeaker available - to simplify this is achieved by the panels having a lower mass than any other This business is about real people listening to real loudspeaker. The speaker is also a dipole and like a music and it is something that bonds us all on real acoustic instrument radiates omnidirectional common ground where we can revel in the arts sound with the added benefit of no crossover regardless of race colour creed religion or sexual distortion. preference and in this day and age that makes me proud to be involved. Cables It’s a fantastic profession where I have met the most The last part of the chain - Cabling and Mains wonderful friends and something for which my Conditioning is another important area. Needless to passion grows daily. say, we use Missing Link Cables throughout. It would show little faith in my design abilities to use Our Vinyl Passion System is as good as it gets for anything else! me and whilst I am able to enjoy the emotions of Perhaps another time for full details of the cables we music my passion for vinyl will continue to grow. use but as a brief note on the subject of our pure Mark B. Sears Silver Reference and Passion Signature Cables that we use - All Silver cables are not the same. The VP www.the-missing-link.net cables are made from a specially sourced Silver Ore www.vinylpassion.com that contains a specific chemical finger print as a Telephone: 44 (0) 1623844478 result of many years of research to produce the purest conductors possible - just one of the many WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE pioneering points in this range of British hand built cables offering custom finishing in any length, PART IN PUTTING termination and colour required – an especially wife TOGETHER A DEALER pleasing option! Her’s a picture of the Pure 5n Silver Link Cryo Reference Interconnects SYSTEM FOR HIFI PIG READERS TO READ ABOUT? CONTACT US ON 0044 297237078

OR BY EMAIL BY CLICKING HERE

Hifi Pig reader John Locke introduces us to his system that has taken years to get to where it is now and contains a pretty impressive list of kit.

irst some context, I have been active in the Additionally I get great feedback from Simon at Au- HiFi since 1975, my father was very keen as dio-T (Reading) who’s always looking out for any Fwell and would build his own amps etc…. new technology worth me auditioning, his resent rec- during that period I have gone from ommendation was the Naim UnitiServe-SSD which Denon/Techinics, Quad, Linn and Naim systems. was a night and day experience for CD ripping. Couple of examples were the Ethernet and speaker The current system has taken me very long time to cables from Chord Company were Simon suggested I get right with multiple upgrades to improve compo- take a listen and in both cases the outcome was nents along the way. I’m always looking and listen- amazing, specifically the Ethernet cable which was ing to new systems to hear how the technology is big surprise and I did challenge why at the time, changing and the impact that that may have on the however the outcome was another big gain in further musical outcome. I have monthly subscription to musicality, so difficult to argue the technicalities as most of the common Hifi mags and also read numer- it’s the result that counts. ous articles from the Internet and attend some HiFi events.

The HiFI components are installed in my office with the main listening room housing the speakers, which has a number of benefits and some pit falls, the main benefit being sound vibrations have minimal impact on the equipment, however the distance of up to 17m does create challenge for speaker cables. Lastly the equipment bulk and amount has meant that no rack/shelve equipment exists for ease or able to han- dle the size other than custom build, currently I have built my own rack, which is not pretty, but does the job, I use aluminium alloy for the shelves and pine wood for the sides, very heavy and stable which is great for the turntable and does allow for pulling the shelves forward to get to the cables, which is always a pain. I have also installed separate mains to power the HiFi only.

Streamer, Turntable power supply and Pre Amp on all the time, however switching on the amps do gen- erate large amounts of heat and to help this I do have an Air Conditioning Unit to keep the room cooler if required and is required if the AV is also switched on. The listening room is L7.5 x H5 x H2.4 meters with concrete floor and brick walls all round with normal plaster board ceiling. I use iPad apps to control the whole system which keeps this simply, the whole system was installed by myself.

I listen to Vinyl and HD Audio for serious listening and for comparing any new cables or equipment as I have found this to be the best source for the best musically experience. I have wide range of music and generally buy music that I like. However some of the In terms of the listening experience, firstly the sys- latest re-master Vinyl from Led Zeppelin sounds fan- tem is powered up for at least 24hrs beforehand to tastic and the Vinyl still delivers the best sound as far get the best from the system, I note that having all as my system goes. That said some of the latest HD components switch on for a week further improves Audio is rather good and already better than CD on of the overall musicality of the system, but this is just my system. a small gain overall. In general I leave the CD,

ChordElectronics SPM 1400 MKII ChordElectronics SPM 3005 ChordElectronics SPM 600

Speakers, BW800D Main room Focal 1008BE Office

AV Speakers, main room BW DB1 x2 BW CCM7.3 x 2 BW HTM2 As far as my system sounds I would say that this is Kef Ci1500 x 2 very wide, huge dynamics with massive scale and detail and I believe it gets close to what you put in, AV Prcessor, just the music, but this all comes down to the quality Marantz AV8801 of the source recording, for example the latest Vinyl Lexicon MC12HDEQ re-mastered Led Zeppelin has such great scale and realism that you feel part of the music and it simply TV, enthrals to feel part of the band or at least there… I Pioneer LX608D Kuros have always aimed to remove the HiFi from the listening experience, the only down side is that you Portable, want to turn the volume up and before you know it Hugo and AK240 its loud but stress free, effortless and totally en- wrapped in the music. I get such pleasure and relaxa- Cables, tion from listening to the music after work, which is why I constantly look at how I can tweak or change All Chord Company the system to improve further, I suspect my next pur- chase will be to upgrade the speakers. XLRs Sarum TA/Indigo TA Main Speaker cables Sarum TA (BW800D) The Complete List Ethernet Cable Sarum TA Surround speakers use cables from Naim and Town- shend Turn table, LP12SE, MC Anna, Radikal Mains filter, For source components and Pre Amp: CD, Blu-Ray/SACD, CD Burner, ISOTEK Titan ChordElectronics Red Reference CD player MKIII Oppo 105D Signature Audiocom NAS, Oppo 95 Signature Audiocom Synology 3612xs with 10Gbps fiber connect. 48TB Tascam DV-RA1000 (main) Synology 2411+ with bonded 2x 1Gbps cop- per Cat6 .48TB (backup unit) Music Streamer and CD ripper, ChordElectronics DXS1000 Streamer If you’d like to see your Naim UnitiServe-SSD system featured in Hifi Pre Amp, ChordElectronics CPA8000 Pig then get in touch on 0044 297237078 or e Amps, ChordElectronics SPM 14000 MKII x 2 mail us here.

August is « Headphone Month » at Hifi Pig and so where better to start this series of reviews than with what must surely be one of the most expensive and talked about pair of cans on the market today…

Price: £1.500

ou can’t explore the world of headphones too far without coming across the Califor- The first thing that Ynian manufacturer Audeze sooner or later as grabs you about the they seem to be just everywhere. I’d been speaking to Jonathan Scull who handles the Audeze PR in the US for a good while on social media and finally Audeze’ is the size of managed to get hold of a pair of their LCD-XC headphones whilst at Munich High-End earlier this year. the sound, the second The £1500 (1799 USD) Audeze arrived in a well is that you are padded, moulded plastic carrying case that looks all but bombproof and is a neat solution for transporting completely isolated the headphones from place to place. Along with the headphones there’s a useful quarter inch to minijack adaptor that I think thoughtful addition to the pack. from the outside world The 2.5m cable attaches to each of the cans via a mini XLR jack with a rugged quarter inch jack on and all you hear is the the amp end… I believe a number of aftermarket alternatives are available for those looking to explore music. this particular route. Overall this packaging really does it for me as it is both practical and attractive in an industrial kind of way – it certainly screams high- heavier than any of the headphones we have in for end. If you are buying these headphones you’ll also review. Appearance-wise the LCD-XC are BIG and, get a wood care kit, a personalised frequency re- despite their luxurious Bubinga wood cups and lamb sponse graph and some warranty documents in the skin earpads, their looks will certainly divide opin- box. ion… I think they look pretty cool and have a retro sort of vibe about them. Needless to say at this price point the Audeze headphones are for serious headphone enthusiasts and whilst their closed-back design certainly isolates you from the world and it from your music, I’m not sure I’d personally feel comfortable hopping on the bus with them strapped to my head… but if you do I’m sure you’ll get both the odd “what the hell” gawp as well as a few admiring glances. That said I did wear them pretty much non- stop for the ten hour train journey from Munich to Paris and despite their weight I found them fairly comfortable for the whole journey. The cans themselves are big and cover the whole of my ears and the earpads are very thick and very comfortable indeed with no sense of them rubbing, itching or becoming sweaty. The earpads are thicker at the back than they are at the front in the same way the HifiMan HE 560s are…only more so. They press fairly tightly onto your head and to some extent your face, but they do move around a bit when you shake The LCD-XC are the second to top price-wise of the your head about. The headband adjusts fairly simply Audeze hierarchy and are the companies only closed to the correct size and is pretty comfortable given back design. Like the HifiMan HE560s the Audeze their weight, though not as comfortable as some of are a planar magnetic design and they have a 38.9cm the other headphones we have reviewed. sq diaphragm. However, they are a heavy headphone The LCD-XC are 20ohms and have a sensitivity of tipping the scales at 650g which is considerably 95dB and seemed to be easy to drive, though I opted

20 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews to use my reference headphone amp over the output fault the Audeze LCD-XC and it’s difficult not to on the reference preamp. With the little HiSound perhaps suggest that these are the best headphones Studio portable player and our son’s iPod they went I’ve ever heard…but then that would make for a loud enough, but there seemed to be a little missing pretty short review and there’s an awful lot of and I’d suggest a good quality portable headphone ‘phones I’ve yet to experience. amplifier to be the order of the day whether at home Despite how gorgeously the Audeze ‘phones play the or on the go. likes of David Crosby I found myself pulling loads The Sound of harder edged rock from the virtual shelf. There The first thing that grabs you about the Audeze’ is just a feeling that the Audeze bring a dynamic feel to the size of the sound, the second is that you are com- this kind of music that really makes it…rock. I know pletely isolated from the outside world and all you this is petty vague but, apart from the weight of the hear is the music. There’s certainly a good impres- phones, you can forget to some extent you’re wear- sion of the soundstage and out-the-head feeling and ing headphones at all. The grunge sounds of Bush’s instruments sit within the mix as they should with “Everything Zen” is visceral and raw and this is fabulous separation and space. I’d suggest the sound- down to the way the LCD-XCs do dynamics. If you staging is better than the Final Hope VIs which sur- like rock then you’re gonna really enjoy these head- prised me given the Audeze’s closed back design and phones, just be careful about the headbanging as I can only put this down to the fact the actual drivers you’ll end up with a severe case of “Headbangers are a way from your ears – whatever, it’s pretty im- Neck”. pressive. Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird” is one of the tracks I use to listen to how a bit of new kit puts out the feel of a room’s space as it’s recorded on a large stage in an empty hall and with the Audeze you get a really good sense of the space. It’s not as pronounced as with good loudspeakers, but then it was never going to be. When the dry kick of “The Chain” (the next tune on the record) comes in it sounds correct and when the rhythm section gets going there’s speed and control displayed that drives the beat – other headphones we’ve reviewed have speed and control, but I can honestly say it’s a notch above both the Hi- fiMan HE 560s and the Sennheiser HD800s with the Audeze in place. On electronic music the bass lines are deep, whilst all the little intricate noises and effects come through… and then there’s the kick drum which gets me to thinking perhaps the bass is a little over done on these headphones. I toyed with this concept a good while and came to the conclusion after listening to loads of tunes that it’s not over done, it’s just power- There seems to be a greater weight to the music with ful and the ‘phones are capable of giving a great these ‘phones across the frequency range and pop- sense of what they are actually playing across the ping on David Crosby’s “Croz” there’s simply more frequencies – there just seems to be more of every- detail than with any of the other phones we have in thing. for test. Drums have dynamism with the toms being Comfort precise and hard hitting, whilst bass kick hits and then stops with no overhang. Bass guitar is tight, These are heavy headphones and you do know you punchy and plays along with the drums to create are wearing them, particularly when sat typing I great rhythm. found as I lean forward to look at the keyboard Sonically on this kind of music it’s really hard to which led to a little neck ache, but they’re also pretty comfortable all-round when sat in your armchair.

The headband is well padded and comfortable over If headphones are your only source and you want the long periods (though not as comfortable as the Hifi- best then you ought to audition these immediately! If Mans nor perhaps the Sennheisers mentioned) and you don’t have this kind of money to splurge then whilst the cans are big and do press onto your face a there are alternatives for you (look out for lots of re- bit you get used to it. views in the days to come), but be aware you may be For long periods of listening I found the earpads missing out on that nth degree of magic. were very comfortable with no irritation as with the Stuart Smith HifiMan HE 560s, but they were certainly less com- Sound – 9.25 fortable than the Sennheiser HD800s over longer pe- Comfort – 8.00 riods. As with most things you lose with one thing Fit and finish – 9.00 and gain with another. Value – 8.00 Yes they do stonking Overall – 8.56 Recommended for those wanting a no compro- basslines with aplomb, mise headphone listening experience. but they also manage to temper this with being able to be subtle where required.

Conclusion £1500 is in most people’s book a good chunk to throw down on a pair of headphones and yet the Au- deze seem to be selling very well, so clearly there are people out there who can justify this kind of expenditure. This is both an audiophile product and a luxe product and when thinking about them you need to keep this in mind. The fit and finish is very good and there’s the attention to little details that set them apart from the competition. I suppose the question that needs to be asked is does And now Linette’s thoughts on the Audeze LCD-XC the extra expenditure bring you a suitable increase in headphones. perceived sound quality and whilst I’d suggest that had been itching to get my hands on (and ears there’s the dreaded law of diminishing returns com- in) these headphones since we picked them up at ing in to play here, these are none the less a very, IMunich. They very much seem to be the audi- very good headphone indeed. ophile flavour of the month and I wanted to find out There’s something almost unfathomable about the for myself if they lived up to the hype. Audeze LCD-XCs that stands them apart from the They have a very different look to them than most crowd. Yes they do stonking basslines with aplomb, headphones with their Bubinga wood cups and black but they also manage to temper this with being able lambskin earpads, they look like they mean serious to be subtle where required. No one area of the music business, especially as they come in a very robust stands out and to me they seem almost perfectly bal- ‘ruggedized’ carry case…resembles something that anced, giving a wonderfully musical experience. Ironman might use to take his butties to work. There is a definite air of ‘manliness’ about them.

Picking them up it was a case of ‘whoa, these are With the Audeze the bass was dynamic and interest- REALLY heavy!’ (650g according to the Audeze ing, not just a splodge of sound…great definition and website) that proper ‘in the music’ feeling. I had visions of developing a neck like an F1 driver I really love Rudimental, their album ‘Home’ gets a if I wore them for any length of time…surely these lot of play here, I have a lot of respect for a dance act were headphones for big, beefy men, not a delicate that can play and sing live and have a real horn sec- flower like myself! tion. Putting them on for the first time made me realise This is uplifting music, hands in the air time and I that although they weigh a lot for a pair of head- got a big case of goosebumps listening to tracks like phones, they are actually perfectly balanced and ex- ‘Feel the love’ and ‘Right Here’. With the Audeze I tremely comfortable. got a sense of just wanting to sit and listen and not It’s kind of like having your head firmly hugged. actually do anything else. The leather earpads are exceptionally soft and probably the most comfortable I have ever felt on a pair of ‘phones. They sit nicely around the ears with no ‘lobe crush’ or hard bits digging into you, plus the headband is well padded and caused no discomfort and I could leave my glasses on without them being pushed into the side of my head…..I was impressed! It felt like sinking into your favourite, soft leather armchair…..cocooning is probably a good word to describe them….and I hadn’t even turned the tunes on yet! So enough about how these feel, how do they sound? First impressions were great and I spent quite a bit of So have these headphones got it all? Well crafted, comfortable and incredibly engaging I do love a bit of disco so appropriately ‘Lost in mu- to listen to………and then sic’ by Sister Sledge went on next. Driving bass, funky guitar and breathy, sweet vocals all sounded there’s the elephant in perfect. The sound stage with the Audeze is big and 3 dimensional and I get the feeling that I am really the room …the price. hearing what I should be hearing…this almost as good as listening to the main system to my ears. Still feeling the Nile Rogers vibe I put on ‘Get time listening to tunes from my laptop, particularly Lucky’ from Daft Punk. Again, funky and crystal memorable was a stream of Carl Cox DJing at Space clear …I’ve heard this tune many, many times but in Ibiza …..I scribbled down the notes ‘feels like a I’m hearing things in the backing vocals that I nightclub on my head’ which just about says it all! haven’t heard ever before…fantastic detail. On goes Hardfloor’s ‘Once again back’. This is my A bit of Gil Scott Heron and his ‘Ghetto Style’ al- go to track to test out a system, it’s especially tricky bum next and once again I’m struck by the depth and with deep sub bass, swirling 303s and skippy top clarity I’m getting from the music, there is a real end. It is a track that has the possibility to make sense of where each of the artists is playing or sing- things sound terrible if they are not up to the job. ing in the soundstage and little nuances in the back-

26 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews ing vocals and from the drums that I haven’t heard in, they really aren’t made for that (for a start the brought out so well before. Ironman Lunchbox would be a bit inconvenient to So have these headphones got it all? Well crafted, cart about) I would wear them to sit down, chill out comfortable and incredibly engaging to listen and get lost in music. Perfect playback of your tunes, to………and then there’s the elephant in the room from your desktop system or from your main hifi, …the price. even when you can’t crank up the volume using your At around 1800 US$, and retailing around £1500 in speakers. the UK, these are not cheap headphones by any The Audeze LCD-XC certainly live up to the hype. stretch of the imagination. Linette Smith But have a think about it. Would you balk at spend- Sound – 9/10 ing over a grand and a half on a pair of loudspeak- Comfort – 9/10 ers? Probably not. Probably, if you are an audiophile, Fit and finish – 9/10 you would be happy to spend quite a bit more than Value – 8/10 that. Overall – 8.75/10 But what if you have a love of listening to your favourite music, on your great hifi….and you have Highly recommended as an exceptionally well neighbours who just don’t share your enthusiasm? made extremely comfortable, enjoyable to listen Short of becoming the vilified ‘Neighbour From to headphone, for those wanting an alternative to Hell’ what options do you have? using loudspeakers in the home or who want the And I guess this is where exceptional sounding, in- best from a desktop system. credibly well-made, expensive headphones come in. I wouldn’t use these to walk about in, or go jogging

Oppo are perhaps most well known in audiophile circles for their well regarded Blu-ray players, but they also make a couple of pairs of planar magnetic cans and a headphone amp. Here Linette and Stuart Smith take a listen to their top of the range PM1s.

Price: £1.099

lthough Oppo are known for their bluray and The chills are back cd players (and mobile phones, outside of Athe audiophile market), I didn’t know they again as I put made headphones….and they didn’t until recently. So, is a high end, £1099 pair of planar magnetic Rudimental’s album headphones what you would expect for a company’s first foray into the headphone market? Not ‘Home’ on…..’Feel the really……this is certainly going to be interesting! Right from the off you know Oppo have gone high love’ is elevated to epic end. The box arrives…surely this can’t be headphones, its too big and heavy?! But headphones it is. status, I love this Nestling in the Oppo branded box is another box, in an understated silvery finish. Sliding off the lid and tune…I hold my hands in its Christmas morning and my birthday all rolled into air to it and I just feel one. Oppo have obviously made a mistake and sent me a beautiful, shiny wooden box with some luxuri- that the Oppos have the ous jewellery instead of headphones! The understated, luxury vibe continues as I open the edge…best headphones box and lift out the ‘phones. Cool, sleek and minimal…and very light for planar magnetics, just I’ve ever listened to? 395g.

and the choice of a long cable and a shorter one for portable use. They slip onto my head and the feeling is one of complete and utter comfort, indeed rather like set- tling into the seat of a high end car. They fit me like a glove, like they were tailor made for me; I really like how the earcups pivot in their mountings to achieve this. The leather feels soft on my ears and, even though they are an open backed design, I feel cosseted and cocooned. Are these the most comfortable headphones that I have ever tried? They are, I thought that the Hifiman were the pinnacle but these are even better for me, and even with extended wear they remain exceptionally comfortable, my ears don’t sweat and my glasses cause no issues. This does surprise me because looking at them, the PM-1s do not appear to be ‘over padded’ in the way that the Audeze are, a little investigation reveals that they use a hypoallergenic natural latex for padding, so perhaps that has something to do with it. I love the feel of these headphones. The leather is soft and flawless and everything, twists, pivots and moves just as it should do with a effortlessly smooth As soon as I turn the music on I get chills in the same action, they put me in mind of a well oiled, top of the way as I do when I listen to a high-end horn range Mercedes…perfection! system…this is weird! And I’m listening to There is also a very nice, denim carry case for taking Deadmau5…which is not really the most ‘chill in- them out and about, an extra pair of velour earpads ducing’ music in the world…it’s brash and banging,

30 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews but the Oppos bring so much detail and feeling it is walk around quite happily in a way I could not in the really uncanny. Audeze…yes there is sound bleed from the open I described my first experience of listening to the backs, but I’m feeling a bit selfish and don’t care Audeze LCD-XC headphones as being ‘like a night- about that right now. club on my head’ Oppo take it one stage further, this The chills are back again as I put Rudimental’s al- is total music immersion. To be fair, I didn’t think bum ‘Home’ on…..’Feel the love’ is elevated to epic that anything could blow me away more than the Au- status, I love this tune…I hold my hands in air to it deze, much less an open backed pair of ‘phones, but and I just feel that the Oppos have the edge…best Oppo have done something VERY clever here and headphones I’ve ever listened to? Right here right are starting to seriously justify their grand+ price tag now……. I would say yes. The soundstage is perhaps the most 3D I have heard, Of course Hardfloor are back for the serious bass test the music is all around me with an incredible depth with ‘once again back’….again I am getting incredi- and clarity, there are layers to Deadmau5‘s tunes that ble levels of detail and clarity and serious, serious I never knew existed or expected. bass…better than the other headphones I have re- It extends in every direction but still retains the drive viewed? Yes, and bear in mind that I have them all in the centre of my head; there is a sense of the on my desk and am switching between them to gauge sound coming from many different directions. my aural memories. The bass is very controlled and again detailed and I switch to Gil Scott Heron and his ‘Ghetto Style’ fast…and there is plenty off it, enough to satisfy album, again, something I have listened to with all even a basshead like me! the headphone reviews this month. With more natural than electronic music the 3Dness of the soundstage is even more apparent…I pick out ‘No Knock’ because the bongo player is sat about 4 feet diagonal- ly behind my left shoulder….I have to look round to check he is not really there! I need to rock out a bit, Eels ‘Beautiful Freak’ goes on …I forget that I am supposed to be ‘reviewing’ and just lose myself in the music in the way that I have only really done before with the Audeze. The connection with the music is incredible, combined with the comfort and the fact that you could wear these headphones 24/7 if you were so inclined makes me very, very happy. I could go on…I’ve listened to loads more music on these headphones but I am just drawn into listening and enjoying rather than reviewing, that has to count for something. So which would I pick? They are both stunning in their own way; I guess it just comes down to personal preference, if they were cars then the Audeze would be a seriously rugged Jeep and the Oppo a slick, silver Mercedes…horses for courses and hard to decide between; but for me the emotion and detail coupled with the slickness of the design and supreme comfort puts the Oppo PM-1 as the best headphone I have used. Don’t get me wrong…I love, love, love the Audeze but I just feel that where they seem to shout with a Yes the Audeze are a bit more expensive , but basi- sharper brightness, the Oppo’s whisper and reveal cally the two are competing for the same market, more detail…with the Oppos the dimensions in the they are both £ grand plus planar magnetic head- soundstage are unsurpassed and I feel that I could phones from California, but where as you probably

31 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews haven’t heard of the Oppo PM -1 you can’t have There’s also a handy denim carrying case which al- avoided Audeze if you have any interest at all in Hi- lows the headphones to be popped in your hand lug- fi. gage when travelling about (the PM1s fold If the Audeze are the A list celeb, posing for the pa- completely flat which I think is a useful and advanta- parazzi at the VIP lounge in the airport, Oppo will geous feature). Topping off the accessories is an al- have already slipped discretely through security and ternative set of velour pads which OPPO say offer be sat on their private jet sipping champagne ….Au- users a slightly different presentation over the lamb- deze are what all the cool kids say we should buy, skin pads the headphones come fitted with. All in all Oppo are what the cool kids haven’t discovered this is a good start for the Oppos, initial impressions yet…………..go figure, be a leader not a follower. count for a lot and at the asking price buyers should Linette Smith expect to feel they are buying a lavish product. Sound – 9.5/10 The cans themselves are over the ear, a squared oval in shape and pretty much cover the whole ear, but are Comfort – 9.5/10 actually relatively small in comparison to the likes of Fit and finish – 9.5/10 the Audeze cans. I’d have preferred the cans to be a smidge larger so they did cover the whole ear as I Value – 8.75/10 found they rubbed slightly on the outer part and to Overall – 9.3/10 the back of my ear. The best headphones that I have heard….I’m I’d certainly be happy to walk about with these on putting my neck on the line and saying it. The ul- my head and the design is relatively understated so timate combo of sound and comfort…I would you don’t stand out like a spare part at a wedding. happily live on beans on toast for a month to pay They also leak very little noise into the surrounding for them. environment which will be a boon for your fellow Probably as close to a perfect ten as I can give. passengers on public transport. They are well padded …and now Stuart Smiths thoughts. with natural latex and sit fairly firmly on your head but not with too much clamping effect – though shaking your head about does move the phones about so they’d not be ideal for vigorous exercise. The headband is well padded, covered in the same lambskin as the earpads which coupled with the relatively light weight of the PM-1s (395g) makes them extremely comfortable on the top of the head. They’re not as comfortable on the top of the head as the HifiMan HE 560s but you can wear them for long periods without any problems at all. Altering the headband is nice and easy and can be done while the PM-1s are on your head, meaning you can get the perfect fit quickly, even if you share your head- he Oppo PM1 headphones have gained quite phones. a reputation as a very well regarded set of Along with the Audeze and HifiMan headphones Tcans since their launch and so we thought that we’ve been sent for review the OppoPM1 have a pla- Headphone Month at Hifi Pig would be incomplete nar magnetic diver and here it’s 85 x 69mm with a without taking the opportunity to take a listen to this symmetric push pull neodymium magnet system. £1099 pair of planar magnetic headphones. Oppo also say that the They are a 32 ohm load and They arrive packaged in a luxurious, polished wood- 102dB (1mW) sensitive and I found that they were en box with a good quality, long OCC cable that is easy enough to drive from both the output of the wrapped in a black fabric and terminated with an Op- preamp and the headphone amplifier. Plugging them po branded quarter inch jack. The cable is terminated into my portable player I found that they were a on the headphone end with a pair of minijacks which much easier load to drive than the Beyer Dynamic means you can have a play with aftermarket cables. T1s with me struggling to get the volume above

20/30 without it being too loud. Indeed I’d be really some headphones to reproduce with any sense of re- happy to have these connected to this whilst out and alism but I’m happy to say the PM1s do a good job about as the sound quality was really rather good. here. They perform similarly well with the other bass check track from Hardfloor that I’ve been using, with Relaxed and unforced are the the growling bassline and drum kick sounding as it first words that come to mind should. Indeed here there is a really good sense of when you first listen to the PM1s. what the musician’s were doing in reinforcing the bassline with the kick; the kick is clearly apart from, Nothing seems to be at all shouty but enhancing, the bassline if this makes sense. and theirs an evenness to the There’s also good speed with the bass notes, and particularly the electronic drums starting and stopping way they reproduce the music. on a pin. Like the Audeze and to a lesser extent the HifiMan HE 560s, there’s pace and rhythm that brings the bass and drums together to create a really The Sound exciting listen, despite my fears that these would sound a touch lack lustre and polite with this style of Relaxed and unforced are the first words that come music given my comments about them being relaxed to mind when you first listen to the PM1s. Nothing and unforced. Indeed, there’s a real dynamic feel to seems to be at all shouty and theirs an evenness to these cans that makes them really quite addictive. the way they reproduce the music. You put these on, I’m no scientist by any stretch of the imagination but turn the music on and it’s as if a feeling of calm de- I’m guessing, given the similar qualities of the Planar scends. There’s also really good isolation from the Magnetic headphones we’ve been playing with, that outside world with the PM1s that add to this feeling something in the way this driver system works adds of calm. to the dynamic feel they have. Emiliana Torrini’s Fisherman’s Woman sounds ab- Herbie Hancock’s One Finger Snap goes on next and solutely gorgeous and theirs detail in her breathy vo- you do really get a great sense of soundstage. It’s not cal that is certainly up there with the very best over exaggerated though and the musicians do stay headphones I’ve had the pleasure to hear. The simple in their place between you head with a reasonable arrangements on this record play very much to the feeling of front to back space too. Moving onto In- strengths of the PM1s with every little nuance of the Duologue’s Blue Skies record there’s excellent sense guitar work being audible and you find yourself real- of the recoding space and a great insight into the way ly drawn into the recording. This isn’t to suggest that the recordings were made. these are an over analytical headphone, they’re not, but there is a natural easiness to the sound without Comfort the feeling that you are missing out on any of the de- These are a pretty light headphone and so over the tail on the recording. top of the head they are pretty comfortable, not the This story is repeated on Kathryn Williams’ Crown best but very acceptable. Electric record and whilst this album has more going Now here’s where I fell out with the PM1s a little on than the previous it’s the velvety smooth vocal and it must have something to do with the shape of that is the first thing to grab your attention. Strings my right ear because whichever way round I had are lush and hats are crisp and sparkling with the bot- them (right can on right ear, or left can on the right tom end having good weight and authority. It has to ear) I was getting a degree of discomfort, but only on be said that it would be easy to go to female vocals my right ear and in one particular spot. I asked Li- constantly with the Oppos but convention suggests I nette to wear these for an afternoon before I contin- ought to seek out tunes that I think will test these ued the reviewing process and she reported no headphones and find out any weaknesses. discomfort at all, so, as I say, I reckon this is down to some issue with these particular headphones and my And do it’s on with Smoke On The Water from Deep right ear shape. On the left they were as comfortable Purple’s Live in Japan album that I’ve been listening as you’d like. They do get quite warm after extended to as a bit of a test track whilst reviewing headphones periods but this is pretty normal with any headphone this month. The guttural bass guitar is difficult for in my experience.

Conclusion They are easy to drive, even with a portable device At over £1000 OPPOs PM1s are not a cheap head- and they fold flat into their nifty little denim carry phone by any stretch of the imagination, indeed they case and so a good choice for those looking for a are the second priciest headphones I’ve heard and high quality sound on the go. only beat in this respect by the Audeze’s. That said From my perspective I wouldn’t buy the Oppos be- they aren’t massively more expensive than the Sen- cause of the issues mentioned with comfort on my nheiser HD 800s or the Beyer Dynamic T1s and so right ear, but then not everyone experiences this. compare very favourably with them. The Oppos are a luxurious product with very careful There’s a sophistication to the sound of the Oppos attention to detail being made in the packaging and that is hard to ignore. At first you get the impression fit and finish and this should be applauded. that they are going to be polite and a little bit on the Stuart Smith boring side but then you listen further and realise that this is only a very small part of their presentation be- Sound – 9 cause presenting them with dynamic and complex Comfort – 7.5 music really gets them singing. Add to this a great Fit and finish – 9 level of detail speed and you really have a headphone that is difficult to better I’d say. Yes, overall the Au- Value – 8.5 deze are a better headphone, but they cost more, are Overall – 8.5 heavier than and not as portable as the Oppos, so you A very good sounding, refined headphone that is takes your pays your money and you takes your pick. portable and offers a level of pride of ownership that will be hard to beat.

Harry Smith, Hifi Pig’s “Teen Correspondent” looks at two IEMs from Final, the Heaven II and Heaven IV.

inal audio is a Japanese company that make They have great unique looking earphones and headphones. I Fwas given the Heaven II and Heaven IV to review that are both in-ears. The Heaven II are the presence and cheaper option retailing at £69 look identical to the more expensive option apart from the slightly more limited colour choices. The Heaven IV is the more have rich lows expensive option retailing at £139. So what are the key differences between these 2 in- and mids. earphones?

Heaven II Starting with the Heaven II it’s a very well priced product. I love its unique “futuristic” design and it has got a nice weight to it. Its stainless steel construction gives it a very solid feel. The earphone comes with a number of silicone ear buds to accom- modate all shapes and sizes of ear I tried all of the different ear buds and found that the smallest ones were the most comfortable and gave the best sound. I never felt any strain on my ears even after many hours of listening. The cable is flat which means that it doesn’t get tangled up in your pocket. The build quality is second to none and there were no faults or flaws in the construction. The Heaven II, being the cheaper option, should not sound as good as the Heaven IV. That being said they still sound impressive. They have great presence and have rich lows and mids. I felt however they were a bit lacking In the top-end. Price: £69 They sounded best with bass heavy dance music tracks. The track that brought out the best of these earphones for me was “One more day” by Example. The baseline and piano sounded rich and punchy and the vocals were not overshadowed by the bass thankfully. There was also great noise isolation from out-

36 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews side sounds and let me hear the music even in loud I think it is as they public spaces. All in all, these earphones are a good and I would are one of the best personally use them as my daily in ear monitor. They might be a bit bass heavy for some but I like that and sounding infor the low price of £69, you can’t really complain. Heaven IV earphones I have heard in a long time and even outperform some more expensive headphones.

cult to go back to the Heaven II, but is the jump up in sound performance worth double the price of the Heaven II? I think it is as they are one of the best sounding in- earphones I have heard in a long time and even outperform some more expensive headphones. Harry Smith Final Audio Heaven II: Price as tested: £69 Sound – 7/10 Comfort – 9/10 Price: £199 Fit and finish – 9/10 Value – 8/10 Overall – 8.25/10

Final Audio Heaven IV: Price as tested £139 he Heaven IV improves on what the Heaven Sound – 8.5/10 II lacks. First of all they come with a very Comfort – 9/10 Tnice stainless steel carrying case. The sound Fit and finish – 9/10 brings the bass and mids from the Heaven II but Value – 7.5/10 greatly improves on the top end and adds a lot more Overall – 8.5/10 depth to the music. The combination of the rich bass and sparkling top end produces an almost perfect I would recommend the Heaven II to someone on sound for me. The stand out track with these was a tight budget but I would suggest they save up a definitely ”Right Here” by Rudimental. The vocals bit more and buy the highly recommended Heav- were a lot more prominent than with the Heaven II en IV as they are a huge improvement and are and the bass and mids sounded even better. The gui- almost everything that I look for in an in-ear- tar riffs sounded really vivid. I also felt that the bass phone; Even if the Heaven II is better value for response was a lot more efficient on the Heaven IV. money. After listening to the Heaven IV I would find it diffi- I highly rate both of these earphones!

Sennheiser is a name that has been synonymous with headphones for decades, here we take a look at their range-topping HD-800s.

Price: £999

ennheiser are one of the first names that come to mind when speaking about headphones and However, this Sso it would be remiss of us not to have taken a listen to at least one of their offerings in what is “Headphone Month” here at Hifi Pig and where bet- increased bass ter for us to start than at the top of their range and the £999 HD800s. extension is They arrive in a large fliptop box lined with a silky fabric that as a whole screams big brand marketing savvy – understated and corporate. There’s a glossy certainly not at instruction manual and attached the headphones 3m plus cable terminated with a quarter inch jack which is “specially tuned, symmetrical, impedance match- the expense of ing with low capacitance”. The cables can be replaced with aftermarket examples should you feel the urge, but the supplied cable does seem to be well the other manufactured with a twisted configuration. For home users this is a proper length which in the main should do away with the need for the use of extension cables frequencies and – a positive, if small, detail from my perspective. Straight from the box the HD800s look very different from other designs we have in for review. First of all guitar and hats they are very modern looking with their silver and black colours giving an industrial looking design – some will like it whilst others will see it as being a are bright and bit over the top. However, thinking about it this is a design where form follows function as these are basi- sparkly with a cally loudspeakers for the ears – the drivers are the biggest used in headphones to date say Sennheiser. natural sound to them.

leak music into their surroundings – much as you would expect from a large pair of open back drivers. The headband is nicely padded and coupled with the Sennheisers’ relative lightweight (they are just 330g) is comfortable on the top of the head – perhaps not quite as comfortable as the HifiMan HE560s. Posi- tioning of the cans on the headband is very simple and a case of moving them up and down with your hands whilst on your head – certainly a better solution than the HifiMans’. The cans themselves are They are a physically large headphone, not as big as massive and comfortably cover the whole ear with a the Audeze cans we have in at the moment, but thin, but very comfy padding around them covered in they’re not the kind of thing you could wear on a bus micro-fabric to protect your head – they’re also deep without standing out somewhat, not that you’re like- so the driver is sitting a good way from your ear. The ly to do this with the HD800s without attracting un- cans are slightly sprung so that when you place them wanted attention of fellow passengers, as they do

40 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews on your head they clamp inwards ever so slightly to The padding between ensure there’s a tight seal between the padding and your head. This is effective and not over tight, but the body of the cans this does mean that if you shake your head about with any force they do move about a little – not sure and your head is I’d be comfortable running in these…but then that’s not what they’re made for! minimal, but, given The HD800s have an impedence of 300Ohms and were driven very loud and very easily by the Coff- man Labs headphone amp on the GA1 pre, with me that the HD800s don’t having to turn the volume down from the previous ‘phones I had been using. The little HiSound porta- clamp to your head ble media player certainly had no problem driving the Sennheisers to very loud volumes and I imagine aggressively, they are you’d be fine running these easily from an iPod or whatever player you choose. However, they are very comfortable to large, come with no carrying case and so how practical it is to use these ‘phones whilst travelling is open wear. to debate…as it is with most of the non-IEMs we have at our disposal. and hats are bright and sparkly with a natural sound to them. Some may prefer the upper frequencies to be rolled off a little, but then I enjoy the Grado 325i headphones which some perceive as being overly bright. The vocal is accurate and correct in the mix without being over emphasised and this leads to a very pleasing and overall easy to listen to sound that is nicely balanced. There’s good separation to the instruments too which adds to the detailed accuracy of the sound. Hardfloor’s “Once Again Back”, as many readers will be aware, is one of the tracks we regularly use to checkout a loudspeaker performance in the bass department and with the HD800s I was certainly not disappointed. There’s a good hint of the feeling you The Sound get when listening to the growling synth-bass per- As mentioned, listening was done using our normal formed through a proper pair of loudspeakers, with preamplifier and we used our normal DAC fed with the associated low level 303 bass being very pleasing FLACs from the computer using our reference player also. There’s speed and there is punch to the sound with JPlay. which I like a lot and whilst the Final Pandora Hope IVs lacked a little in the lower bass registers you sac- Whilst the perceived soundstage thrown with the rifice a little of the 3D presentation they give with HD800s isn’t as wide as with the Final Pandora the HD800s – horses for courses then. I found Hope VIs there is still a good feeling that the music searching on the tablet for a lot of techno and dance is in its own space and with a good out-of-the-head music and I think if you listen to a lot of this kind of feel. Doug MacLeod’s bluesy “Rosa Lee” displays music the HD800s will be an excellent choice. them to have a very good feel to the bass with it being deep, tight and controlled – which you’d possibly The outstanding In Duologue “Blue Skies” album on expect from the large drivers used in the Sennheisers. Snip Records is recorded in a small chapel and However, this increased bass extension is certainly there’s a good sense of the space’s sound particularly not at the expense of the other frequencies and guitar on the vocal track. Again there is a sense of a nicely balanced sound with the HD800s with the female

41 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews vocal being slightly to the fore and playing nicely long periods of time and in this area I preferred the against the contrebass. The whispered, normally HifiMan HD 560s. barely audible, background vocal sound at the start of the opening track is clear and it’s nice to hear this. Contrebass is tight and percussive with good slap and it has the feel that it goes lower than most of the other headphones we have in for test. Pink Fairies’ “Kings of Oblivion” album can sound quite bright to these ears (or my CD copy does), so I wanted to see if the HD800s exaggerated this at all. It’s still a record that’s slightly exaggerated at the top-end a little I think, but I don’t believe the Senhe- issers are over emphasising this and what I got from listening to this album on these cans was heaps of detail in the mix and a “live” feel to the music – which is about right I’d say. The vocal track is agree- ably reproduced and again I found it to be slightly forward. Bass was nice and bouncy too which I enjoyed and added to a feeling of the HD800s being rhythmic and foot-tappingly exciting. Conclusion The Sennheiser HD800s are clearly a very good Contrebass is tight and headphone that will please people who enjoy a monitor type sound. Some may find the upper frequencies percussive with good slap to be a little much, but, like with the Grado 325is, I perceive this as accuracy rather than anything to crit- and it has the feel that it icise… you pays your money, you takes your choice. They don’t have the “luxurious/audiophile” sound of goes lower than most of the Final Pandora Hope VI, but I think this is to the the other headphones we Sennheisers’ credit actually and they do have an overall better balance to their sound than the Finals, have in for test. with bass being especially more pleasing and strong. Soundstage is pretty good and there’s a reasonably good out-of-the-head experience but this is not the best we’ve heard. For extended listening they are Comfort non-fatiguing and a pleasure to listen to. As previously mentioned, the HD800s from Sennhe- They are an easy headphone to drive and have no iser fit over the whole ear which I like a great deal issues with being played by portable music players, and I think you’d have to be particularly well propor- despite them not being particularly portable them- tioned in the lughole department to have any issues selves because of their size and lack of case. with them. There’s also a goof deal of space between the divers and the ears which means that there’s no From the perspective of comfort these are great and fear of any part of your ear rubbing on the driver, or the large cans fit over the ear completely making its protection. them easy to wear for extended periods. My only The padding between the body of the cans and your niggle comfort-wise is the headband can become head is minimal, but, given that the HD800s don’t “evident” (if not uncomfortable) after long periods of clamp to your head aggressively, they are very com- wear. fortable to wear. On the negative side they are big and I’d have liked They are a light headphone and easy to wear over to have seen a carry case included in the price to fa- long periods of time without feeling any discomfort. cilitate being able to pop them in a bag when away However, the headband can become “evident” after on business. Looks will also divide opinion.

At £999 these aren’t cheap headphones but they do …the overall feel and sound very good, are comfortable and they should last you a lifetime if looked after. impression of the Stuart Smith Sound – 8.75 soundstage was Comfort – 8.25 Fit and finish – 8.25 really big and open, Value – 8 Overall – 8.31 like listening in a Recommended for serious headphone listeners who want plenty of detail, coupled with good concert hall. quality bass reproduction and a lifelike interpretation. sion was that they were big….but really light. And now Linette’s thoughts on the Sennheiser HD Having previously tested the Audeze and Final Pan- 800 headphones dora headphones, these seemed exceptionally light, according to Sennheiser they weigh in at just 330g. They look big because they fit around the ear, rather than on it at all, which I have to say, coupled with the lightness, makes for a very comfortable fit. They seem to curve around the head, hugging it but not in a stifling embrace. The only problem that I had with the fit was I couldn’t keep my glasses on as the earcups pushed them into my head. The easily adjustable headband is also well padded adding to the comfortable fit. They are also supplied with a good quality, long cable that has robust connectors and is apparently reinforced with Kevlar. I found the design pleasing, and I felt a bit Cyborg- like while wearing them but in my opinion, they did look a bit ‘plasticky’. I guess this is the payoff though for them being so light for their size. I started things off with Primal Scream’s ‘Screama- delica’ album. ‘Movin’ on up’ is an uplifting track with gospel backing vocals, piano, organ and rocky guitar riffs. Everything sounded in its place and I would say the overall feel and impression of the soundstage was really big and open, like listening in a concert hall. On ‘Loaded’ the bass was deep and defined but the mids and tops were there as well, the ‘country’ ell August seems to have turned into twang of the guitar sounded great. Christmas at Hifi Pig towers with head- ‘Damaged’ sounded beautiful, the vocals were sweet phones, headphone amps and in ear moni- W but gravelly with a perfect balance between piano tors arriving in droves. and guitar and the background organ ….but it was Next on my review schedule were the open backed starting to get to the real bass test time. Sennheisers which retail at about £1000. I always itch to hear Hardfloor’s ‘Once again back’ These arrived very nicely packaged in a black pres- on new bits of kit. With the HD800s the sub bass entation case and on unboxing them, my first impres- was tight and defined…..all the detail that I wanted

44 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews to hear was there and they presented the swoopy didn’t give me the isolation that I prefer when listen- swirly top and mid range perfectly. ing on headphones, I also found that in a noisy envi- Slowing things down a bit, I put on John Martyn’s ronment I was cranking the volume higher on the ‘Solid Air’, a track that I hear a lot at hifi shows headphone amp to drown out exterior noise interfer- …for good reason, it shows off a system that is ence. ‘right’ really well. This sounded smooth and hon- All in all, they came across as very accurate and eyed on the HD800’s with the vocal and instruments comfortable headphones (minus the glasses conflict) all beautifully placed…it sounded very accurate to but they didn’t excite me a much as some of the oth- me. er headphones I have used, they seemed to me to be a little too clinical for my taste, everything perfectly Back to Gil Scott Heron and ‘Ghetto Style’ which I done, but just missing the ‘wow’ factor…. For some have used in all my recent headphone reviews. This people this will be exactly what they are looking for. album did sound very good, again with the sense of accuracy and definition but I did find I was having to Sound – 7.75/10 turn things up louder than when using the Audeze Comfort – 8/10 headphones. Fit and finish –7.75/10 Value – 7.25/10 I tend to prefer my headphones with closed backs Overall – 7.69/10 because if I am either out and about or listening at home I like to keep my music to myself and not force Accurate, comfortable headphones with a very those around me to listen to it too. good build quality, suited to people not looking I perhaps did not feel as ‘lost in music’ as I did with for complete isolation from the outside world the Audeze LCD –XC which I again put down to the when they listen to music. Sennheiser HD800s being open backed so they

Price: £550

Linette and Stuart Smith take the opportunity to take a listen to the Japanese Pandora Hope VI headphones that have a novel driver implementation.

first had a brief listen to the Japanese made Pan- They are a hybrid dora Hope VI headphones at Munich earlier this Iyear and thought they sounded pretty nice in far from ideal surroundings, so was pleased to be offered design that uses a a review pair to try at home. The £550 Hope VIs arrive in a hexagonal box which balanced opens at the top to reveal the headphones surrounded by black faux-fur which lines the box and is a pretty nice touch which adds to that “Christmas morning” armature along effect. Inside the box you’ve got the very basic instruction pamphlet, the removable 1.5m cable and with a 50mm the headphones themselves. Pulling the headphones out the top of the box the first thing that strikes is that these are a pretty heavy dynamic driver headphone, coming in at around 480g. The second is that they look pretty classy with their silver and and this is where black finish (stainless steel and ABS resin). Popping them on your head they’re immediately comfortable with a well padded headband and position nicely the slight rotation over the whole of the ear – smaller over ears can sometimes be a problem for this reviewer. The ear- of the cans comes pads (and headband) are covered with faux leather and well padded. Positioning is by way of a simple slider mechanism and the cans themselves pivot in … nicely so you get a comfortable fit automatically – they also rotate slightly, but more of this later. many use headphones when traveling on business and in hotel rooms using computers and portable audio players and so this mini-jack does actually make sense in the real world. From a design perspective the Pandora Hope VI headphones are an interesting concept. They are a hybrid design that uses a balanced armature along with a 50mm dynamic driver and this is where the slight rotation of the cans comes in – you can position the balanced armature so you get the sound that suits your ears best. Personally I preferred them turned full forward, but it was interesting to experi- ment. They are 8 Ohm closed design with a sensitivity of The cable is well made and has two minijacks that 105db and as such an easy headphone to drive. plug into each of the cans on the headphones and one Sound that pops into the amp’s socket. Now these are pretty Listening was predominantly done using Flacs from heavy headphones and I can’t see me wanting to the computer using JRiver and JPlay via the VAD walk about the town (or heaven forbid exercising) valve DAC and the headphone amp on the Coffman with them and I do most of my listening on head- GA1 preamplfier we use daily. phones at home, so would have preferred to have seen a quarter inch jack on the end of these. On the Popping on the excellent “Coz” album from David positive side of things the fact that the cable is “inde- Crosby you’re immediately aware of there being a pendent” will allow, for those so inclined, to experi- nice wide soundstage with decent a three dimension- ment with after-market cables. I also realise that al feel to give a good to very good “out of the head”

48 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews experience that is sometimes really lacking when us- Do you miss the very lowest bass registers?…well ing some headphones. Clarity of the sound is very no, not really you don’t. Personally I’d rather have good, with piano, guitar and vocals shining out from the tight and well toned bass the Pandoras give up the mix. The sound is tight and accurate with Cros- rather than an overblown, dominating and, in the fi- by’s distinctly toned voice being instantly recognisa- nal analysis, artificial sounding bass “the youth” ble. Individual little percussion sounds are very seem to crave. Here you have speed, control and evident and overall you get a great insight into the tautness that is a delight to listen to…really musical mix with slight effects on the guitar being easy to and enjoyable! hear. Overall the sound is really rather pleasing and very The Pandora Hope VI easy to listen to with this kind of laidback music and from Final are a superior it’s very difficult not to reach for the tablet and pick more of this from the virtual shelf. product both from a fin- The beginning few bars of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” are crisp and precise and when the vocal ish and sound quality comes in it’s a real delight to listen to. Bass is tight and, whilst not as deep as some other headphones, it perspective. presents itself well: There’s a tendency these days to over exaggerate the lower frequencies with cheaper (and some more expensive) headphones to appeal to Sonically they perform the younger generations of listeners desire to con- form to the “beats” sound. The Pandora Hope VI will very well with all genres certainly appeal to the more mature (in experience of music, offering up a rather than years) listener who appreciates a balanced sound over and above the boom and tizz offered up clear and cohesive elsewhere. “Smoke on the Water” from Deep Pur- ple’s “Made in Japan” record has a great electric bass sound that’s a real sound that is a bit of a highlight of the record for me and here, despite it being a little light overall, it’s pleasure to listen to. well toned giving a good impression of the effect

On the funky disco of Salsoul Orchestra’s “Street Sense” record and particularly listening to “Burning Spear” the infectiousness of the groove comes through brilliantly and the horns, when they begin, cut through the mix just as they should. Bass kick has that tightness again as does the electric bass guitar which, given the overall balance of the Pandoras, sounds right in this context. Moving onto a bit of jazz in the form of Herbie Han- cock’s “Cantaloupe Island” the sense of the recording space is apparent and Freddie Hubbard’s cornet soars to the fore. There’s an overall “liveness” to the used. music and Tony Williams light touches on cymbals Square Pusher’s “Ufabulum” album is clever drum and hats glimmer through the other instruments. and bass at its very best with complex sounds com- With the Pandora Hope VI there’s a sense of separa- ing and going in the mix and with the Hope VI you tion of the instruments in space that allows you to feel that there’s an accuracy to the sound. The snap- listen critically should you want to, but the overall py snare hits cut through the intricate mix and there’s feeling is one of a cohesive and enjoyable listen. that out-the-head sensation to the soundstage again.

Plugging the headphones into the little Studio porta- ly strong points and they really do that out-of-the- ble player from HiSound they prove to be really easy head thing really well with instruments clearly sepa- to drive and you can crank them up to outrageous rated and in their own space. volumes should you wish. If I was popping off for Comfort-wise I found them to be fairly comfortable the weekend on business I’d be more than happy with the caveats mentioned. Given their loose fit I with the sound of this combo. don’t see them being suitable for the very active, but Comfort great for the commute to work or for when away on These fit nicely over the ear enclosing it and ensur- business. ing good sound isolation from the outside world, but At their price-point they are not in any way a budget the faux leather earpads can become a little “sweaty” or impulse buy and whilst I do think they punch on warm evenings when you’re wearing them for somewhat above their weight sonically, I’d suggest extended periods – I would have liked to see a fabric you see if you can get a pair to try on before you alternative in the box. *There is also a tendency buy, or take advantage of current distance selling (with my ear shape) for the hard plastic mesh inside regulations, to see if they fit your ear-shape properly. the can to rub slightly on the antihelix (I had to look Stuart Smith that up), part of the ear – this could be simply cured by having deeper cushions on the earpads, though Sound – 8.25 I’ve experienced this with other headphones and so, Comfort – 6.75 as I suggest, it could just be my ear shape. They fit Fit and finish – 8.5 quite loosely on the head and if you do move your Value – 8 head about over enthusiastically they do move about. Overall – 7.88 All that said they were pretty comfortable on the Recommended for those looking for a well made whole and I managed to spend a good few hours at a an “audiophile” sounding headphone that punch- time wearing them. es above its weight and has a fabulous soundstage. Final Audio have nailed it with these headphones; they come in a hexagonal black box, with silver embossed logos, like something you would get And now Linette’s thoughts on the Final Pandora jewellery or expensive Hope VI headphones. have said it before and I will say it again, the perfume in. whole process of buying a new bit of hifi and Ithen bringing it home to unbox should be a bit of an event. A cracking product carefully packaged and Conclusions boxed will make more of an impression than some- The Pandora Hope VI from Final are a superior prod- thing just slung into a plain box with a bit of bubble- uct both from a finish and sound quality perspective. wrap. Sonically they perform very well with all genres of Final Audio have nailed it with these headphones; music, offering up a clear and cohesive sound that’s they come in a hexagonal black box, with silver em- a real pleasure to listen to. There’s a sense that they bossed logos, like something you would get jewel- have a balance and sophistication to them that clearly lery or expensive perfume in. The inside of the box is puts them in the audiophile bracket. Bass is tight and lined with a thick, black (fake) fur and acts as a head- tuneful (though not massively low), mids and tops phone stand which the ‘phones nestle into, very nice. are clean and precise. Soundstage is one of their real-

Taking them out of the box I was impressed with the XC but the Pandora Hope VI are a third of the price stylish, minimal design and the build quality. They at around £550 UK retail. have a quietly retro feel to them with polished black The Hardfloor ‘Once again back’ test was next….this ABS plastic that has a matte finish and stainless tune really does get played on every piece of review steel. The headband is broad and well padded and the equipment that comes in. Again they seemed really earcups slide easily up and down to adjust the fit. bassy, but controlled and tight with everything else The detachable cable clips in, in a satisfyingly solid present in the top and mid that I was looking for fashion. from this track. Again they seemed Wanting to listen to some of the same tracks in each headphone review I put on Gil Scott Heron’s ‘Ghetto really bassy, but con- Style’ again. It was engaging to listen to with a well defined soundstage and the bass/mid/top mix sound- trolled and tight with ed right to me. I would have happily sat and listened to the whole album but things were starting to get quite uncom- everything else fortable in the ear department. present in the top and I was pretty disappointed, the Final Pandora Hope VI sound very good….but they are just not the headphone for me. Comfort is really important to me with mid that I was looking a pair of headphones. *I found them quite uncomfortable after wearing for for from this track. a while, I think the way that the driver and housing is designed makes the part not covered by the pads One thing I would say, these are not really grippy stick out too close to the ear, I imagine this could be headphones and I don’t think they are designed for overcome by increasing the earpad thickness to take anything much more active than sitting and listening the driver a little further back away from the ear. to music. They are not for running about in (which is However, headphones are not a one size fits all and I fine by me!) would definitely suggest trying them to see how they They also sat comfortably on my head while wearing feel on your own ears….just because they didn’t glasses, if I’m sat using my computer whilst wearing work for me doesn’t mean they won’t for you. headphones, this is pretty important to me. Linette Smith Although the earpads were pretty thick and comfort- Sound – 8/10 able I did have a bit of an issue with some parts of Comfort – 5/10 the driver or driver housing that were not covered by Fit and finish – 8/10 the pads and were slightly uncomfortable on my ears. Value – 7/10 The Final website states that the Pandora Hope VI Overall – 7/10 feature ‘a hybrid design that merges balanced arma- A great sounding, beautiful looking set of head- ture with a 50mm diameter dynamic driver unit cou- phones, just not a recommended from me because pled with BAM (Balancing Air Movement) of the comfort issues, which other people may not mechanism’ and that they have ‘achieved an extraor- have a problem with. dinarily vast sound stage’ *Robin from KS Distribution, who are the UK im- Have they? Well it sounds pretty good to me! porter of Final Audio products, contacted Hifi Pig ‘Papua New Guinea’ from Future Sound of London to tell us that ” larger earpads are available if soared through my ears with plenty of detail in the someone doesn’t like the original earpads – these mid and top and a huge punch of bass. were produced specially for those who find the orig- The soundstage did sound wide and deep…maybe inal pads uncomfortable. The larger pads were pro- Final have something here. duced for western markets and one of the guys at Not quite on the same level as the Audeze LCD – KS who experienced some discomfort said they re- solved the issue completely”.

Linette and Stuart Smith listen to another planar magnetic design, this time it’s the HifiMan HE-560 headphones

Price: £650 As part of Hifi Pig’s « Headphone Month » Linette and Stuart Smith review the £650 HifiMan HE-560 headphones supplied by Mark at Electromod.

he £650 HE-560 from HifiMan open-backed, planar magnetic headphones arrive in a smart After a suitable Tlooking wooden box with a metal nameplate taking up the slide-out lid’s top surface. Inside you running in period are presented by a very nicely cut out foam insert that protects the headphones during transit, the own- ers manual and the detachable cables. This is a good the sound does start – first impressions count for a lot with lots of people and it’s good to see another headphone manufacturer realising this. change pretty Taking the HE-560s from their packaging it’s immediately apparent that these are a relatively light dramatically and weight design and they come in at 375g which is more than 100g lighter than the Final Pandora Hope VI headphones we reviewed recently but slightly very much for heavier than the Sennheiser HD800s. I’d certainly be happy to use these whilst moving about or doing mild exercise. They look pretty cool with a wooden the better. banding around the outer circumference of each of the cans and this looks pretty classy. ears. The cables are a decent 2m length and terminate at one end with a good quality Neutrik quarter inch jack and on the other with faffy little things that screw onto the bottom of each of the cans’ – I personally didn’t like these at all, but again, once they’re in… they’re in. Cable enthusiasts on the other hand will be pleased with the non-captive design so they can play with cables from other manufacturers. Overall I really like the sleek design of these and the finish looks to be pretty good, though I wouldn’t like to be altering the headband overly often due to the nature of the mechanism. As a departure from previous Hifi Man models the The cans are nice and big and fit over the whole of drivers have their magnet at only one side of the the ear (or most of it in my case) pretty comfortably- driver’s membrane which is good for weight and they aren’t as big as the Sennheisers but should be means there’s nothing between the driver membrane good for most folk. The headband is simple band of and your ear, but it does mean that they are pretty plastic material and not actually part of the metal inefficient at 90dB and have an impedence of 35 “headband” making it very comfortable indeed and it Ohms. The output from the Coffman pre didn’t really can be adjusted by sliding little black plastic blocks drive the HifiMan HE560s and I’d suggest that a located on each side of the headband. This adjust- dedicated amp with a more healthy output is the or- ment is a bit fiddly, but once it’s set you’re done under of the day. Fortunately I own a reference of a less you share your headphones with your family. prototype solid state design from Epiphany Acous- They fit pretty firmly to your head too so you can tics that pumps out a healthy 2W should you need move about quite freely which is a good thing! that much. Plugging into the Studio portable player The actual earpads themselves are made of what from HiSound means having to crank the volume a looks like faux leather with the surface that touches fair bit, but I’d suggest you’d be better off with a de- your head being a smoothish velour fabric. The ear- cent quality portable headphone amplifier. pads are thicker at the back of the ear than they are at The Sound the front which positions them correctly over your

First listen straight from the box weren’t very im- On to some electronic music, which I actually really pressive at all with the HE-560s sounding a little enjoy on a good set of headphones, and VCMG’s brash and yet closed in…but then to be fair the user “SSSS”. To enjoy this kind of music I think you need guide does suggest 150 hours of breaking them in so headphones that do speed and dynamics really well there they sat for a few days playing along to them- and the HE560s don’t disappoint. Whilst they don’t selves, which made me realise just how little these go mega low (or as low as the Sennheiser HD800s) open backed designs bleed sound into their surround- they do that start and stop thing on the bass that is ings. I’d be cautious on public transport, but I reckon essential for me and there is bags and bags of infor- you’d get away with it if you sat at the back of the mation in the higher frequencies making this album bus and kept yourself to yourself. in particular come alive with all the little synthesised bleeps and twitters in the mix. There’s a quality to the Nolwenn Leroy’s “Brettone” album emphasise the nice balance these headphones have, but also high- sound of the HifiMan light the fact that you need to drive them pretty hard to get the very best from them. There’s snap and im- HE560s that really pact from the drums and the traditional Breton instruments, which tend to be pretty highly pitched, cut draws you in and through the mix without being over emphasised and taking over. Given their speed you are presented an makes you sit up and accurate and realistic impression of the overall mix with no overhang of sounds and with each instru- listen. ment having its place on the stage. Leroy’s version of “Greensleeves” is naturally a simple rendition and the HE560s perform this tune really beautifully with After a suitable running in period the sound does the simple instrumentation layered in the mix to ac- change pretty dramatically and very much for the centuate her voice. She is singing in a language that better. I’d been listening to the “Kings of Oblivion” is not her own (she’s Breton/French) and it is quite from Pink Fairies on the Sennheiser HD800s and no- easy to pick out slight American inflections in her ticed that the bass on the HifiMan headphones voice. seemed to be a little tighter and more akin to a real bass guitar and if anything I’d say they were even better in this department which is surprising as I liked the bass on the Sennheisers a lot! A very brief introduction but very positive none the less. Natalie Merchants eponymous album is a bit of favourite with me at the moment and I just love the opening track “Ladybird”. Here her vocal is really quite beautifully rendered. It’s silky smooth and projects from the background instrumentation as nicely as I’ve heard it on headphones. Bass is punchy, tight and dynamic. I don’t think the Hifi- Mans go as low as the Sennheisers but there is a quality to it that is really pleasing to listen to and Comfort which appeals to me. There seems to be a slightly Over the top of the head the HifiMan HE560s are the warm presentation overall, but there’s equally tons of most comfortable we have in for review andthis is detail with these headphones. The soundstage is dif- down to the simple headband arrangement – in this ficult for me to express in words – it’s not as wide or respect you are hardly aware you are wearing them at deep as the Sennheiser HD800 or the Final Pandora all. Hope VIs, but there does seem to be a better forward The cans themselves are pretty large but don’t cover to back sensation if that makes sense. the whole of my lugs and this can become evident, if

54 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews not actually uncomfortable, after long sessions with of attention from headphone enthusiasts and serious them. listeners looking for a more cost effective alternative. They clamp quite tightly to your head which I reckon Stuart Smith would make them useable when doing light exercise, but the velour covering to the earpads did get pretty Sound – 8.5 warm and a little itchy after long periods of use – Comfort – 8.0 perhaps an alternative could be included in the fu- Fit and finish – 8.0 ture. Value – 8.5 Overall – 8.25 Conclusion Recommended for those looking for a lightweight There’s a quality to the sound of the HifiMan headphone with a high quality, detailed sound HE560s that really draws you in and makes you sit throughout the frequency range and at a price- up and listen. They are balanced and detailed in the point that is attractive to those not wanting to top end and, whilst the bass doesn’t go as low as spend mega-bucks. some others in for review (notably the Sennheiser HD800s), I do think there’s a punchy quality to the bass that is in balance with the rest of the frequency range they convey and it’s really quite endearing. That upper frequency detail isn’t at all over done and many will actually prefer this quality of the HifiMans over the Sennheisers. Mids and vocals are really nicely done and overall there is a hint of warmth to the HE560s which many who listen to headphones for extended periods will enjoy a geat deal. The out-of-the-head experience isn’t as defined as the Final Hope VI and there is a feeling of them being slightly closed in left to right, whilst on the flip- side there’s a feeling of front to back space. Although I feel the soundstage is quite narrow the And now Linette Smith takes a listen to the Hifi- instruments in the mix do have position and a degree Man HE-560 headphones of space around them. Overall the sound the HE560s make is really rather was expecting good things when the Hifiman special and they play a wide variety of genres with- headphones arrived in their very stylish and stur- out issue and they don’t demand anything from the Idy box. Well constructed wooden box with a listener. slide off lid that comes with an aluminium panel on I personally found them a little uncomfortable on the the front…very stylish indeed and the headphones ears after a long session and they do need a decent are perfectly protected in transit. headphone amp to get the very best out of them. That Taking them out of the box was a bit déjà said, they are light, relatively portable and the box vu…….these headphones seemed to have a touch of they come in is of a size you can pop in large hand the Audeze to them looks wise, was I getting a luggage when traveling. I do worry that the little cheaper interpretation from China? I hoped not! clips for adjusting the headband will not be robust The first thing that strikes me is the weight; these are enough over time if used a lot. actually a pretty light set of ‘phones at 375g. Despite At £650 the HifiMan HE560s come in at £100 more the lightness they feel well built and durable with a than the Pandoras and I believe this is justifiable as definite solidity to them, these are no cheeky rip off, they do offer, for my tastes, a more coherent and less they are a well made set of headphones. “audiophile” sound. At almost £350 less than Sen- I really like the suspended head band. Slipping them nheisers and £849 less than the Audeze LCD – XC on they feel very, very comfortable, with just the soft they are a serious contender that will surely get a lot band on my head I can only actually feel the earcups,

55 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews sure, the metal frame of the headband does make me in to listen more….actually I forget that I’m sup- look a bit like a cyber man….but I like the design. posed to be writing a review and just enjoy listening! I switch back to Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ Wow! This is which I last listened to with the Sennheisers that I reviewed a few days ago. Wow! This is great, the bass is much deeper and all great, the bass the little nuances in the rhythm are clean and detailed with nothing lost from the mid and top. is much deeper I’m getting the ‘lost in music’ feeling that marks out a great pair of headphones for me….a lot of fun! I am very impressed that Hifiman have got such a and all the little great balance with the HE-560s. Comfort, lightness and a great sound and all for around £650 ….not a cheap pair of headphones by nuances in the any stretch….but they are coming across as very good value for money. rhythm are clean and detailed with nothing lost from the mid

It’s Hardfloor test time again so on goes ‘Once again and top. back’. Driving basslines with lots of sub…..what’s not to love? Tight and detailed…..perfect, the Hifi- man ‘cans pass with flying colours, I think someone The earcups themselves fit my ears perfectly and feel will have to prise them from my head when it’s time supremely comfortable. Not as big as the Audeze and to send them back, I am hooked! not as heavy so they don’t need as much padding. They are definitely cocooning and even though these I was impressed right from opening the box, but if are open backed I get the isolation from the outside you buy these headphones they will spend a lot more world that I look for in a pair of headphones. time on your head than in the box! Thoroughly en- They even work well with my glasses, no conflict at joyable. all……..I have to say I am pretty impressed by Hifi- Linette Smith man so far! Sound – 8.75/10 I’m really excited to actually hear these so I put on Comfort – 9.25/10 Blondie’s ‘Parallel Lines’. Fit and finish – 8/10 ‘Hanging on the telephone’ is rocky and lively and Value – 9/10 slips nicely into ‘One way or another’ with Debbie Overall – 8.75 /10 Harry growling seductively in my ears. Excellent sounding, comfortable headphones that The soundstage is big and I get all the detail that I give much more expensive headphones a run for want to hear….drums sounding particularly good, their money. Definitely recommended. everything is tight and well balanced and I am drawn

Price: £1695

alk about headphones, and there is one name that always springs to mind. When I was a Perhaps the original Tteenage hi-fi fanatic I always wanted to own a Stax. I remember then the company were adamant Lambda was a little that they should actually be called ‘Ear Speakers’, and I could see why with the Lambda. These mon- bit more sters of the day looked more like speakers tied to the head with a vice rather than headphones. Whilst the original conventionally shaped Stax was in 1960 it comfortable, but wasn’t until 1979 that the Lambda – if you like, the original baby of the SR-407 – was born. Indeed, with its large many of the original exterior parts, such as headband, driver yokes, earpads, and outer casing still design fitting play a part in the current 207, 307, 407 and 507 in- carnations. Only the Jecklin Float offered an alternative electrostatic design, but that particular offering around my ears I was prone to fall off your head if you leaned forward. Koss, Sennheiser and PWB did produce elec- was still able to tret and electrostatics, but that’s for another day. These ear speakers couldn’t be plugged directly into your standard headphone socket but rather had to be listen for extended connected to a special electrostatic generator, known as an ‘Energiser’, in the case of the Stax using a 6 time. pin, and later 5 pin, connector. The energiser was itself connected to the line output of your pre-amp. Quite unique in design, the high voltage Lambda Looking more like something from the Second- transducers were angled inwards, rather than being World War with its distinctive rectangular brown parallel to the ears like most cans. This gave it a dis- plastic scaffolding to keep weight down and faux tinctive soundstage, as if the instruments were in leather ear-cups, the 2011 Stax SR-407 usually gets front of your head, rather than cramped inside be- mated up with the two 6FQ7 valve SRM-006ts ener- tween your ears. This made listening to music all that giser to make up the SRS-4170 system. Interestingly, much more realistic and less tiring than most others, both parts can be bought separate though they are particularly when listening to centralised vocals. useless unless mated together, and when bought as a Coupled with the electrostatic diaphragms, it made pair aren’t any cheaper, either! With a specification for a quick and extended frequency response. Many to die for (frequency response 7-41,000 Hz) and the years later I bought my first pair, and have never prospect of a fully balanced audio path from the looked back. Having been brought up on Quad XLR output of my Krell CD all the way to my ears ESL57 and 63’s these cans could do everything that via the custom-made double axis 4-gang volume those speakers could, only much louder. controller I knew this was going to be special. After a long run-in to get some flexibility in the tight 1.35 micron plastic membranes, I began to listen. By the way, the human hair is at least 40 times thicker! Compared with the original Lambda, the 2011 model has many changes to the inside, making for a much better bass end, though the slightly more expensive SR-507 (which is black, with real leather) gives a much more confident lower end than this model, and is £250 more as a consequence. With that extra bass this psychologically makes you feel the top end is inferior, which of course it isn’t. Perhaps the original Lambda was a little bit more comfortable, but with

58 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews its large design fitting around my ears I was still able Time to switch over to vinyl. To test the power and to listen for extended time. bass I listened to the last two tracks of the new re- Listening to the Dadawa ‘Sister Drum’ it was evident master of Pink Floyd ‘The Division Bell’. There was that my ears would probably hurt before the electro- no end to the musicality, with precise cymbal highs static membrane did. The thud of the bass drums was and a bass just went lower and lower. Finally I put very quick and precise and the wide dynamic range on Patricia Barber ‘Live in France’. I felt like I was made my Krell KPS20i, renowned for its excellent in the audience, and I listened tirelessly to all four bass production, sound better than I ever thought it sides of the disc. I was in love with these cans, I would. Everything was there, crystal clear. Listening mean, Ear Speakers. The sound was transparent and to my own album ‘Get Over It’, I could hear ele- focused. It was ‘so easy’, that the only problems ments of my recording that had not been apparent were the slightly incorrect bias on my Rega arm dis- when I made it; things like slight level changes or torting the vocal to the left channel a tad. Easily rec- changes in perspective mid-verse. This led me to tified whilst 580 volts between my ears. Dire Straits ‘Love Over Gold’, an old favourite that I If I have to criticise this product it is the slightly pla- know has a few bad edits in it that many headphones sticky feel, though this keeps down the weight, and and speaker systems will miss out. The opening track weight of the ribbon cable if left dangling. With the ‘Telegraph Road’ has a terrible sound stage shift of prospect of balanced all the way through, two XLR Knopfler singing at 3’38”. The SR-407 precision was inputs rather than just one in the Energiser would for still very musical, however, and that finding this spot me be preferable. Small price to pay. Combined with on the music was a doddle. These were musically the energiser this outfit costs five pounds short of clinical, if you hear what I mean. £1700, and for me is the starting point for serious As well as the extended horizontal sound stage, with listening in the Stax family. Cheaper outfits includ- their large curved rectangular diameter fitting over ing the SR-207 or SR-307 ear speakers lack much of the ears these ear speakers had a massive vertical what is possible. The SRS 3170 combo, for example, soundboard as well. The sound was all around my ears, not just a centralised pin-point. This made it much more realistic to listen to. Their size was particularly evident playing J.S. Bach organ tracks which made this sound like St Pauls, rather than the local village church organ. Conversely quiet decays of instruments were allowed to do so in their own time, not being quickened by the limitation of a conventional heavy cone driver. This was precision stuff. My ears felt like I was listening again back in my twenties. I wish. The soundstage of The David Rees-Williams Trio ‘Classically Minded’ had always confused me with its width and multi-pianoforte ‘layering’, which sounding quite claustrophobic and confusing. The Stax made it far easier to discern the different piano melodic lines, which don’t sound cor- comprises the SR-307 with a less able transistor en- rectly placed as if you were listening in the audience, ergiser. The price of the SR-407 on its own is £495, making me wish I’d actually done the mix myself. It but useless without an appropriate energiser. But, at just didn’t sound natural; a fault of the 2001 album, little more than the cost of a very decent pair of and not the Stax. Nothing could get past this kit! Al- headphones and headphone amp, this weird contrap- so, as is often in a lot of recordings, the drum kit had tion is to my ears easily the winning combination. a “large” fingerprint, but not as wide as had the dia- Janine Elliot phragms not been angled to my ears, as they are on Sound Quality – 9.2/10 the Stax. The valve energiser gave a precise velvety Value for Money – 9/10 sound to the badly mic’d piano that was quite com- Build Quality – 8.2/10 pelling. I just didn’t want to stop listening. Overall – 8.8/10

At £3495 the Stax SR-009 headphones are intended for the committed headphone listener. Janine Elliot takes a listen…

he thought of swapping the review of a £60 diaphragm is pulled and pair of headphones to a £3,495 Stax monolith pushed. With frequency re- Twas like getting out of a 2CV and taking off sponse from 5 to 42,000Hz in a McLaren F1. There was just going to be no com- and a maximum sound pres- petition. So, what I decided to do in this review was sure level of 118dB, this needs a premium source fed to compare the SR-009 with the £495 SR 407 com- into it to even start to appreciate its sound quality. bined with the £1,295 SRM-006tS and £2,295 SRM- Whilst the product has gone through the most exten- 007t ll Kimik vacuum tube energisers, which are sive research and building, commemorating 50 years needed if you wish to hear any music. The Kimik, of its electrostatic ear speakers (excluding electret with its play on the letter K (just like Linn), is £200 models), the sales brochure is a lot more confusing. I more than the standard 007t ll, but has better quality mean, tell me what all this is about; selected old/new stock 6FQ7 cryogenically frozen tubes fitted with EAT dampers, and the pins are 24 “It will exactly be as a result of “work” each prede- carat gold plated. Before getting to the customer the cessor piled up, if a race, a company, and an individ- bias and balance is adjusted over a five-day period. ual have “pride”. And it clearly depends on the way Lots of TLC, then. of life we live now to inherit it and to bear “enhance- ment” and “evolution”. he SR-009 is the flagship of the extensive range which starts with the £275 in-ear SR- Just saying a lot of pride and craftsmanship has been T02. Whilst I personally prefer the gold finish put into what is our most iconic and best ever ear of the cheaper SR-007, the conventional shaped alu- speaker would have been good enough for me. Luck- minium SR-009 is of improved build quality. This ily the posh-card manual inside the wooden-box- ear speaker was pure class. Lambs wool, and a com- adorned SR-009 was a lot more specific. At the out- fort that makes the plasticky, rattley, rickety, cheap set I have to say that this product is nothing short of finish of the SR-407 feel more like something from ‘out of this planet’. The head pad is extremely com- another manufacturer. The SR-009 differs specifical- fortable and, unlike the SR-407, has a lockable slider ly from the £1500 cheaper SR-007 in that the drivers mechanism for different size heads that actually stays are angled, as in the Lambda based’ put when you’ve set it. Comfort matches my favour- 207/307/407/507 fraternity. Believe me, this extra ite Audio-Technica ATH-W1000X, but that is where £1500 is worth every penny in order to gain a more the comparison ends. realistic soundstage in front of, rather than inside, the listener! Similarly the SRM-007t II Kimik is the very top of their range, though I personally think the addi- tional two valves duplicating the output circuitry somewhat veils the sound quality. I believe in keep- ing things simple. For those unaccustomed to Stax ear speakers, the sound is generated between two “parallel-arranged fixed electrodes” – the electrostatic transducer -between which is suspended a low-mass, high-polymer film that is less than 2µm thick. This is basically a push-pull driver system. When the fluctuating voltage of the audio signal is applied to the electrodes the

So to the tests. First of all I listened to both Stax 5’17″ midphrase has an increase in level that the models through the cheaper SRM 006tS energiser, SR-407 can’t pick out. Indeed, it is more noticeable with Krell KPS20i CD and Townshend Rock through the SRM-006tS than on the Kimik. Indeed, 7/Merlin, Rega/Ortofon Kontrapunkt, Manley Steel- if I were to make a really radical statement here; I head vinyl. After this I used the Kimik energiser. actually prefer the £1000 cheaper SRM-006tS! Inter- Playing Eva Cassidy ‘Fields of Gold’ was mind esting then, perhaps, that Stax themselves are pres- blowingly open. The cheaper energiser had a thinner, ently designing a new energiser to replace/be an brighter sound and made the difference between the alternative to the SRM-007t Kimik. SR-407 and 009 greater than when both were fed Vocal “ums” in Jennifer Warnes “Bird on a Wire” through the Kimik. The sound in both ear speakers (Cypress Records 258418) were much clearer identi- was highly accurate, with the guitars sounding as fied in space. The whole soundstage appears much bright as the title in the song, Golden. The SR-009 less cluttered. Donald Fagan “I G Y” from the album had far more space between instruments and the ‘The Nightfy’ (Warner Bros 923696-2) made me singer; I mean in front of me, not just middle, left wonder how much I had been missing for 32 years. and right. Listening to a live version of Dire Straits’ The clarity, in a rather clinical track, was as if my Private Investigation there was a wider ambiance and ears had just been syringed. I didn’t realise CDs I felt I was in the audience. The SR-407 were claus- could be this good; power, channel identification, trophobic in comparison, even though compared will frequency response. And in the 32ft pedalboard of most other gear out there the SR-407 is streets above. the organ of Nicolas de Grigny – Recit de Tierce en I would be scarred for life (if you’re my age and Taille (Dorian DOR 90134) couldn’t be any clearer, know the words, you’ll realise the play on words or deeper. Nothing could get past these, not even the here….) if I had never listened to these marvels. This real canons firing off in Tchaikovsky 1812 overture was not confidential information. Enough. (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Telarc CS 80041). In contrast Deep Blue Sky from John Lee Hook- er was so laid back with velvety warmth and musicality that I wondered if life could get any better. So, to conclude, the SR-009 are the best sounding ear speakers, cans, headphones, or whatever you or Stax want to call them, that I have had the pleasure of listening to. They, combined with the Kimik, were well worth the combined £5,790 if you wanted the very best in sound quality. If you were to spend money on a comparable loudspeaker based system, expect to spend £30,000 plus. If cost were an issue, then I have shown that the SRM-006tS, at £1,000 less, is more than Bird song repetition between the first and second vi- a match for these cans, and I actually did prefer olins in The Four Seasons was much more open and them in much of my listening tests. The SR-009 and crisper, and therefore easier to listen to in the SR- energiser do need significant run-in to get to their 009. There was more in front of the listener. The best, but even at their worst were as exciting as UK Battle from The Gladiator was far cleaner on SR- importer Nigel Crump, Symmetry, sounded every 009; open, precise, easy to listen to, but more than time he talked to me about them. He has every rea- anything, musical. The sudden loud ‘rages’ don’t son to be very proud. sound as muddled or as heavy, even though there is Janine Elliot more bass, as they do on the SR-407. Yes, more bass Sound Quality – 9.5/10 apparent on the SR-407 than the SR-009! The thing Value for Money – 8.5/10 is, because the sound is more muddled on the SR- Build Quality – 9/10 407 you think there is actually more of it! Believe me, the SR-009 is not lacking in anything. The sound Overall – 9/10 is further forward from the ears. A sudden edit at

French manufacturer Focal are perhaps best known for their loudspeakers but perhaps they’re onto something with this 179 EUR pair of headphones. Say Harry and Linette Smith

rench manufacturer Focal aren’t the fist name that comes to mind when you think about Focal have Fheadphones but perhaps they should be given Harry and Linette’s eens think of buying their first combined high “quality” headphone, they often look at a brand that is quite infamous with most audiophiles, Beats by Dre. quality plastic and So why do people buy Beats? Well first of all they look good, there are plenty of brushed metal in colour choices and they have loads of BASS!!!!! Apart from this however the build quality is poor and the design that the sound suffers from the bass overload. You can barely hear the highs or mids. But this isn’t a review of Beats so I’ll tell you why give it a great I’m talking about them … Many Hi-fi companies have failed in trying to knock weight and feel. beats of its pedestal by bringing great sound and build quality to the “on the go” headphone market. But is that about to change? Focal are a big French name in the Hi-Fi business Starting with build quality. The Spirit One S feels and are world renowned for their speakers. The solid and their were no faults with the example that I Spirit One S is Focal’s big leap in to the head-fi was given. Focal have combined high quality plastic world and an upgrade from the previous Spirit One and brushed metal in the design that give it a great Headphone. I briefly listened to the Spirit One at the weight and feel. The cable provided is thick and High End Munich show earlier this year. Both head- doesn’t get tangled up in your pocket. You can also phones are designed for “On the go” usage. detach it completely from the headphone which helps for carrying it around your neck. There are also inline controls to that can be used on most mobile devices for pausing the music, skipping tracks and an- swering calls. There is also a very nice hard carrying case that comes with them. The Headphones are also very comfortable, there is plenty of foam padding on the ear cups and headband. They feel a bit tight at first but they adjust to your head size after around an hour. I had them around my neck or on my ears for most of the day and never felt any strain on my head or ears. I love the over-ear design that provides plenty of noise isolation from outside noises. Personally, I think they look very stylish and stand out from most headphones. I think however that they could benefit from a better choice of colours. When it comes to sound, the Spirit One S wipes the floor with any pair of beats. The bass is warm and there is plenty of it without loosing too much out on the highs and mids. The sound is very balanced maybe leaning in favour of the bass a little. The sound on the whole is dynamic and caters for most genres of music. The stand out song with these headphones was ‘La La La’ by Naughty Boy. The heavy bass line really

64 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews complimented the high notes of Sam Smith’s voice. Right from the A lot of headphones struggle wit this song as there is such a huge contrast between the bass of the instruments and the high pitch voice but the Spirit One S start there is the handled it perfectly. They actually performed very well with more or less anything I could throw them. A great all rounder! big ‘whump’ of Harry Smith Build quality – 8/10 bass that I expect Comfort – 9/10 Sound – 8/10 to hear from this Value – 9/10 Total – 8.5/10 album, but it Price when tested: 179 euros sounds controlled Focal have created a great headphone for use in home and out ad have designed something that (with the right marketing of course) could steal and tight … the Teen market from its competitors. A Beats killer indeed! aving been lucky enough to visit the Focal factory and offices in Ste Etienne, France Hearlier this year, I know how much work goes into their R&D. They also ‘filter down’ the technology developed for the higher end products into the cheaper ones, so that you know when you see the Focal logo, you are getting a quality item. That certainly goes for the Focal Spirit One S headphones. Properly packaged, they come with some nice accessories like a rigid carry case and a soft bag, along with a cable with a remote on it that will work with your ipod or phone….if you are that way inclined. There is also a full sized jack adapter and an adapter to use on aeroplanes. The ‘phones themselves are very stylish looking in tones of dark grey, black and brushed aluminium with a pop of red inside the earcups. They have a modern, slick look to them and I imagine they would draw admiring glances from the younger generation….there is good but discreet use of the Focal logos and branding. They fit very comfortably on and around the ears, with a good grip so that you would feel safe walking or doing exercise whilst wearing them, but they are not so tight as to be uncomfortable. There is the sense of isolation from the outside world that I like to have with a set of headphones. And now Linette takes a listen and gives her opin- They are also very light for what feels a very solid ion. and well made set of headphones at just 280g.

They adjust easily and feel ‘right’ on the head; overall I am very impressed with them straight out of the box. After wearing for quite a while, I can tell that I have them on…but they are not uncomfortable at all. I want to kick off listening with something bassy, on goes car Cox’s ‘Phuture 2000’. Right from the start there is the big ‘whump’ of bass that I expect to hear from this album, but it sounds controlled and tight rather than woolly and though these come across as bass heavy there is still plenty of top and mid to pre- vent the bass from becoming too much. I’m getting all the little breakbeaty snaps and jumps in a nicely defined manner. The soundstage is not as big and open as with some of the other headphones that we have reviewed, but it is pretty damn good, especially when you take into consideration that these cost around 179€. Feeling ‘at one with da yoof’ I stick on Deadmau5 and ‘Albumtitlegoeshere’ This sounds great on the Focals, driving, bassy and energetic…particulary one of my favourite tracks Hopefully if we can get today’s teens using some- ‘Professional Griefers’….a banger if ever I heard thing much more well built and better sounding they one. will develop a much more educated ear and not just Not just a wall of noise though, great detail too. immediately go for that little ‘b’ logo……we need Before I try something a bit calmer I have to put on some good headphones to fill the gap in the market ‘Once again back’ by Hardfloor. It sounds tight and at a price that kids can aspire to. fast with plenty of growling sub bass…. Not quite as With their Spirit range, Focal seem poised to do just ‘out of the head’ as some of the headphones I have that, perhaps a few more colours would be a good reviewed recently, but some of those were up to 10 thing, but I think the more discerning will be more times the price of the Focals. concerned about the build and sound quality of these I switch to ‘Beautiful Freak’ by Eels and the track headphones than whether they come in a rainbow of ‘Susan’s house’ sounds excellent, guitars and vocals colours. come across well. These are not just a set of ‘phones Not only for the kids though, these are affordable, for fans of electronica, they sound great with more comfortable, portable and stylish and have benefited rocky music too as is further proven when listening from the Focal legacy of great design and sound….I to ‘Rags to Rags’ with its grungy guitars and vocals. reckon if you buy them for your teenager this Christ- For the sake of comparison Gil Scott Herons ‘Lady mas you will and up pinching them back again! Day and John Coltrane’ goes back on again. Once Linette Smith again it is obvious that the presentation is better with some of the other headphones I have listened Sound – 8/10 to…however the difference is not as big as you Comfort – 7.75/10 would think from the difference in price, overall I am Fit and finish – 8.75/10 very, very impressed with how the Focal Spirit One S perform for the money. Value – 9.5/10 The whole Beats by Dre phenomenon has opened up Overall – 8.5/10 a new market for headphones, now, rather than just Great all-rounders, with a build quality that I using a cheap pair of earbuds, loads of teens want would expect from much more expensive head- ‘proper’ headphones…and Beats filled that market- phones, a lot of headphone for your money! place. Heartily recommended.

HifiMan RE-400 In Ear Headphones Teen correspondent Harry Smith give his thoughts on the HifiMan RE-400 £79 In Ear Headphones

een correspondent Harry Smith continues Hifi PIg’s « Headphone Month » with his Tthoughts on the HifiMan RE-400 In Ear Headphones Hifiman area Japanese company that make headphones, earphones, media players … Ranging from the affordable to the not so affordable. The RE-400s are a very small form factor in-ear that packs a punch for their small design and affordable price. (£79) In the box you get the earphones (obviously), a carrying case and plenty of earpieces that can fit all shapes and sizes of ear including ones made out of memory foam that are the most comfortable for me. I think its great that Hifiman took the trouble to including so many extras for customisa- tion. The earphones themselves are very well built and feel solid, although the aluminium on the back is whether it be the drums, the piano, the organ or prone to scratching. The cable is braided which the trademark Daft punk vocoder voice. All the you don’t see much on budget earphones. individual sounds combined into a huge orchestra. I felt that I was listening to the music in a When listening to to the RE-400s you often forget huge concert hall. The earphones performed just that you have something in your ears. The memo- as well with the entire album. ry foam does a great job of filling your ears so no sound can escape. Hands down, the most comfort- When listening to more bass heavy genres like able earphone I have ever used. The highs and dub-step it sounds different to what I’m used to. mids are crisp and are very well balanced. Per- You hear more of the top end and it changes the sonally I feel that the bass could be a bit lacking whole character of the music. but these are tuned to an audiophiles ear and not All in all, there is not much to say about the Hifi- a teen bass nut. The RE-400s sound best with man RE-400 as they do barely anything wrong acoustic pianos and guitars. Female and high and so many things right. Its comfortable, sounds male vocals sounded sublime. Whatever you listen very good and has solid build quality. You can’t to they do a great job at layering the music and do much better for its price. I recommend these to make it feel like a live band. any audiophile who wants great music on the go I don’t often take the time to listen to classical and on a budget. £79 well spent ! music but it actually sounded very good. Not that I would listen to it again, but violins had an amazing resonance. Build quality-8/10 The stand out track for me was “Within” from Sound quality-8/10 Daft Punks newest album. I could hear everything Comfort-9.5/10 20-56-13742- Value-8/10 ea4a7f7e3bbaae79ca8fa81e8b1c01a6individually Overall – 8.38

At Hifi PIg we’re keen not only to bring you reviews of the high-end, expensive products but also like to point out the odd bargain that is out there. Here Janine Elliot continues Hifi Pig’s « Headphone Month » with a review of a £60 set of headphones available from the high street. In use whilst walking the noisy streets of London, I could actually get more out of the music than my expensive inner-ear phones. he thought of me walking into the local electronics store and spending £250 on the latest Tdesigner headphones with unrealistic bass- the bass just made me ill. Except for one. Ironically, heavy response would only appear in my worst this designer named, brilliantly packaged, well acces- nightmare. Just as I love the idea of owning the latest sorised (non-tangle cord, carrying pouch), comforta- designer sports footwear, I only buy something that ble, pleasant to listen to and good looking little fits well, whatever its colour or name engraved. So number is actually made exclusively in Hemel with audio, sound comes before the brand. Hempstead for Currys/PC World. Well, made in Chi- I take my non-designer hat off to Dr Dre for manag- na, actually. ing to sell unrealistic sounding, but highly enjoyable Coming in white, black and, if you’re lucky, in red, and good looking headphones. But £260 for an over- this foldable over the ear Goji Tinchy Stryder is ear white, red or black iPod attachment is as cost ef- amazingly good value and £200 cheaper than some fective as me putting on my central heating and Dr Dre’s, yet it’s handling of bass without distortion, opening all the windows. So, reluctantly I decided to and crispier top end is without equal. In use whilst try out a number of headphones designed for the walking the noisy streets of London, I could actually young iPod trendy. Names included Sony, JVC, get more out of the music than my expensive inner- Sculcandy, Beats by Dr Dre, etc. ear phones. The closed back covers the ear with enough energy to stop most of the traffic getting in, For the purposes of this review I’ll just say they were yet not too much to make them uncomfortable for all bland, boring, too trebly, too bass heavy, uncom- long periods of time. Only in really hot conditions fortable or too expensive. None of them made me did I find the faux-leather construction a bit sweaty. I enjoy listening to music on the move and, with some,

68 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews disabled the EQ settings on my iPod, as the increase drivers outside my house at midnight. But I didn’t in bass and top end equated to the “R&B”or “Rock” need any extra equipment for my ears to get the same settings that I could have selected. It should be main- effect, and this was much more musical. However, tained flat, or on “Electronic” setting at the very switching over to Slee Voyager (also under test this most. month) through my open back Sennheiser HP650s, the soundstage widened enormously and the cymbal rim shots had a completely new lease of life. The bass was still there, just cleaner, quicker, painless. In the normal world, when you set up your subwoofer, it should be just loud enough not to be individually noticed. Low bass in the £60 and £70 (for white or black, respectively) GOJIs were noticeably loud at low frequencies, and hence worked better on popular music or watching an action movie, rather than classical music, where the positions of instruments was less easy to define as were they on my much more expensive cans. However, the dynamic range, particularly in the lower end, was magnificent.

Made by ‘Goji’, they are designed in collaboration It goes against all 25 with Tinchy Stryder, the stage name for 1986 Ghana- ian- born Kwasi Danquah III. As well as founder of years of my BBC the headphone and phone accessories label, he is a musician, investor, and even oversees his own cloth- sound engineer ing range. The MOBO award-winner now has three hit albums under his belt and his CV is longer than background. But this the small print on my bank account. product is actually pretty amazing for the price.

I don’t normally speak so fervently about products like this. It goes against all 25 years of my BBC sound engineer background. But this product is actually pretty amazing for the price. Having it only available to the DSG empire (the largest electrical retailer in the UK) also based in Hemel Hempstead), keeps that price down. Whilst I won’t want to listen This was an amazingly musical headphone for the like this for too many hours, it’s a bit like coming price. The droning lower bass D at the start of The away from the dentist after fillings. You just so want Division Bell, Pink Floyd, was there, clearly defined, to tuck in to sweets, but know you just daren’t do it. but not so prominent as I perhaps had expected. The Janine Elliot gentle cymbals and bass drum at 4’27″ were just Sound Quality – 7.3/10 right; not OTT. Only in the next track did I feel any Value for Money – 9/10 saturation, and at high level I could feel the wind Build Quality – 8.5/10 blow like the 18″ drivers of my subwoofer. Some people like this, especially the young Vauxhall Nova Overall – 8.3/10

Tame teen Harry Smith and somewhat more elderly Stuart take a listen to the £400 Lehmann Audio Trav- eller Headphone Amplifier as part of Hifi PIg’s « Headphone Month »

et’s say you have bought yourself a new mu- The build quality is great and there are only 2 screws sic player and a nice pair of headphones for showing on the back. It feels solid and I love the Lon the go but you feel there is something… brushed metal chassis that obviously helps with cool- missing. Most people overlook the need for an amp ing. The front is made out of black soft touch plastic. on the go as most are impractical and oversized. It’s a nice contrast from the cold metal (the metal did With the Lehmann Audio Traveller, the size and get warm after a few hours of use but it never got practicality are a huge improvement from other hot) The amp has 2 inputs and 2 outputs though “portable” amps. The Traveller can also be used as a 3,5mm headphone jack. preamp for speakers but I just tried it with a media In the box, you also get a very nice cable to connect player and a range of earphones and headphones. to your media player.

Battery life is not a problem with the Traveller and it the artist intended. will last around 20 hours of audio playback. It performed best with rock songs but that is not to The Traveller uses lithium ion batteries (the same say that it did not perform admirably with most other that you would find in your smart-phone) and it will genres of music. probably outlive your phone on battery life. If you do With very bass heavy tracks it can fall behind what I run out of battery you can use the micro USB port to am used to but I do love a lot of bass and I don’t charge it. think this will bother most audiophiles. So is the Lehmann Audio Traveller worth the £400 The mids had a price tag? If you are looking to upgrade your headphone set up and also want an amp so versatile it is a good price. A bit on the expensive side for a teen great richness and though. Despite this the Lehmann Traveller amplifier is a must buy for your portable Hi-Fi as it brings the the highs where expensive sound of a full size Hi-Fi to you on the go. Harry Smith bright and crisp. Sound quality-8/10 Build quality-9/10 The whole sound Value for money-7/10 stage was im- Overall-8/10 proved thanks to the Traveller.

When you use it for the first time you can hear an instant difference with all headphones. It performed very well even with power hungry headphones. I think it performed best with my own pair of NAD Viso hp 50s. The bass was deep and responsive. The mids had a great richness and the highs where bright and crisp. The whole sound stage was improved thanks to the Traveller. And now the decidedly not a teen Stuart will take a This amp can also help you hide the fact that you are listen…. using a cheap music player. I put a £100+ music s the name suggests the Lehmann Audio player against a HTC Desire phone, playing the same Traveller is a headphone amplifier intended audio file and playing though the amp. I couldn’t Afor use whilst out and about. I first came hear any noticeable difference … However when I across this amp in its prototype version at the 2013 removed the Traveller from the equation the smart- Munich High-End show where details were scant, phone fell far behind the sound quality of the music but interest from the public and competitors to Leh- player. mann High. Now available the Traveller costs £400 The stand out track using the Traveller was “Can’t and available widely. stop” by the Red hot chilly peppers. The iconic gui- I like the idea of great quality audio on the go and tar rhythm of this song sounded much less monotone always have my little player with me when away on than without Traveller. The bass line was not over- business, but despite the decent output of the player I powered either. I could hear every instrument. Just as

71 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews often feel I’m missing out a little – enter the portable Again, there’s that headphone amplifier. In the box you’ve got the diminutive (80mm x 90mm driving percussive- x 25mm and 196g) but very nicely finished Traveller itself, a very well written operating manual, a USB cable for connecting to the computer and charging ness, but listen the Traveller and a short, well made minijack to minijack cable to connect your player to the box. The more closely and Traveller feels sturdy and decidedly solid and pur- poseful. the Traveller Around the back you’ve got an input for the USB cable, a mini jack input and a mini jack output. Up front you’ve got another minijack input and output, a seems to be allow- trio of LEDs which indicate the status of the amp/battery and a pair of little buttons to turn the ing you to delve volume up and down and control other functions such as balance which I thought was a nice and thoughtful touch. deeper into the mix The inclusion of inputs and outputs on both the front and back is a nifty little touch and one that shows with little details that there’s a good deal of thought gone into the Traveller. This feature means you can use whichever is the most convenient or use the amp to power two you didn’t notice pairs of headphones from one portable player which is another useful touch . For those using active before coming to speakers you can put the Traveller between your source and the speakers and it will work as a preamplifier. the fore. Using the Traveller is pretty intuitive and the controls are responsive.The Traveller has a battery run time of a claimed 20 hours (volume dependent) and The Sound charges from empty in six hours. Another clever lit- I listened to the Traveller using a wide range of head- tle feature is that the volume will return to its last phones we have in for review, both in-ears and con- setting when tuned off and on again, with the caveat ventional headphones, and it drove every pair I threw that there must be charge in the battery. at it to volumes suitable for those with a deaf wish. Most of the review process was done using the Au- deze LCD XC cans. Immediately on plugging the little headphone amp in there is a perceived improvement in the sound than with the standalone player; Bass has a more authorat- itive punch with basslines seeming much easier to follow. There is a clearer definition between individual instruments in the mix, with an apparent increase in the amount of detail present. Clearly the amplifier can only amplify the signal with which it is fed, but you do get the feeling that there is more going on in the mix with the Traveller inline. This is a very good start and I found myself flicking through loads of tracks and many different genres.

Hawkwind’s Astounding Sounds has the mix split One of the features I into its component pieces with everything being easy to pick out and identify. This is a complex record in particularly loved was parts that can sound very busy and sometimes comes across as a blurred jumble, but the Traveller seems to the ability to attach improve separation of instruments. This effect is apparent most in the interplay between bass guitar and two pairs of cans drums giving the music drive and rhythm. Comeme’s compilation album Gasoline is a hard hitting, electronic album which needs to be driven to get the very best from it and with the Traveller inline warded with a big improvement in perceived drive you certainly get that feeling that you are listening as and quality of the sound and I think this will be of it should be heard. Again, there’s that driving percus- interest to many business travellers who don’t partic- siveness, but listen more closely and the Traveller ularly want to invest in a potentially expensive media seems to be allowing you to delve deeper into the player but always have their laptop to hand. I’d be mix with little details you didn’t notice before com- quite happy with this arrangement and would be hap- ing to the fore. py to leave the DAP at home. Conclusion The Traveller is impressively well built and solid feeling with a good set of features that should appeal to both headphone aficionados on the go and for less dedicated listeners who none the less want a great sound whilst away from their main source of music. One of the features I particularly loved was the ability to attach two pairs of cans at once and also the unit returning to the last volume you had it set at after turning it off and on again. Its compact size and flex- ible inputs/outputs make it a perfectly portable and usable product. Sound-wise the Traveller performs very well and is a clear step up from some of the less expensive portable headphone amps I’ve tried, with an ability to give Reading what I’ve just written back to myself you’d the perception of there being much more going on in be forgiven for thinking that the Traveller just em- the music. The Traveller’s strong points are the drive phasises the bass frequencies, but that’s certainly not it gives to music and the detail of a recording it man- the case with all the little nuances on the hats on ages to bring out. Nebel Dance from the same compilation coming through really well. On female vocals the Traveller Stuart Smith just seems to give you more of an insight into the Sound Quality – 8.8/10 singers particular inflections and tone. Value for Money – 8/10 At this point I thought I’d try out the Traveller using Build Quality – 9/10 the headphone out on the laptop and again I was re- WIN the LEHMANN TRAVELLER and other headfi goodies in next month’s Hifi Pig Magazine.

73 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews Epiphany Acoustics EHP-02Di Headphone Amplifier & USB DAC Dan Worth continues « Headphone Month » at Hifi Pig with the a review of the £179.99 Epiphany Acoustics EHP-02Di Headphone Amplifier & USB DAC

o, a little while back now I got myself an unit to a few friends who still cherish them to this Epiphany EHP-02 portable headphone ampli- day. Sfier. The unit was very handy being of a porta- A month ago during the build up to this months ble design with it’s built in rechargeable battery Headfi Special at Hifi Pig, Epiphany contacted us to which lasted across many days of decent length lis- let us know about their latest model of headphone tening sessions. I subsequently recommended the amplifier with built in Dac the EHP-02Di. So natu-

74 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews rally after enjoying the standalone portable amp I Vocals were was happy to have a look at the 02Di. Epiphany Acoustics have not just had a eureka moment deciding to add a DAC to their already award extremely pleasing winning headamp, they have in fact as many will be aware already have a DAC/amp in the product line sitting a little bit up namely the EPH-02D. User feedback to Epiphany was extremely positive in the performance stakes but many people found as I did with the portable device forward of flat, that having the power input jack socket on the front of the unit was an eyesore and also a little uneasy in allowing them to use, most of us have our power sockets trailing off of the rear of a unit or desk. be projected and Epiphany has addressed this issue by moving the socket to the rear now. Another user friendly want/upgrade to the existing 02D is a pair of stereo vibrant in nature. phono jacks on the rear. What’s clever about these sockets is they act as an input for an analogue signal to the headphone amplifier or when the USB DAC is The Setup and Sound utilised from a computer (which is plug n play and doesn’t require drivers) automatically switches to an After leaving the EHP-02Di on 24 hours a day for output to any normal system as a usable standalone week through my AKG K702′s fed via USB from the DAC with integrated headphone amplifier. The two DAC to ensure good burn in time as I was fairly busy devices can be used simultaneously. so wanted to make sure it had some good hours on it I was ready to rock and roll. Power to the DAC is via the USB host computer and filtered on board. The data is controlled by the on- As well as having the AKG’s running from the board crystal oscillator to improve performance. dac/amp I also made use of the analogue outputs run- The DAC is based on the TE7022L UAC1 engine ning a set of Harman Karson Sounsticks which sat on and ES9023 24 bit DAC chip. It supports 16 bit and the desk. This would give me an idea of the DAC’s 24 bit at sample rates of 44.1kHz, 48kHz and 96kHz. performance against the analogue connection straight from the Mac to the Soundsticks. As a Headphone Amp First impressions were very nice top end detail, vibrant mids and a good bouncy bass when listening to Spotify’s Top 100 list which consists very extensively of the world top pop music. A good mixture of dance, rock and vocal work adorned the list and was a great way to see how the EHP-02Di would fair without being overly specific. Vocals were extremely pleasing sitting a little bit forward of flat, allowing them to be projected and vibrant in nature. The top end is very neatly handled, remaining controlled with wailing females and intricate when listening to synthesised dance music. The treble doesn’t slope severely, cutting off high frequency extremes, they do seem to keep going on and on. As far as bass is concerned I would say its a bit bouncy, a little tight and fast. The lower end could be said to have a more neutral tonality, it’s not dry or weighty nor is it coloured. The cleanliness in this

75 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews area depicts details well and those of you out there who are not bass heads will appreciate the extra detail here. Flicking over from Spotify to Amarra increased performance and rendition of a higher quality bit depth and better recording. The EHP-02Di shows better delicacies in the mix when fed with quality recordings, midband presentation is a little more fluid with better undertones. Top end is a tiny bit more refined and bass remains clean and explicit. The EHP-02Di shows better delicacies in the mix when fed with quality recordings, midband presentation is a The EHP-02Di didn’t change the presentation totally, little more fluid with better it does seem to be extremely neutral, what it does offer tho is a far better detail retrieval, a stronger undertones. Top end is a presence of bass characterisation and a vocal which tiny bit more refined and stands out and doesn’t get so lost in the mix. The headphone amplifier itself can be as mentioned bass remains clean and ran from the RCA sockets on the rear. Using the de- explicit. vice in this manner is just like using the standalone portable EHP-02 which Hifi Pig has already reviewed if you wish to check it out. Singling out the DAC Conclusion I use the Harman Kardons very often when sat at the With a compact and attractive design the Epiphany desk, whether it’s to use them for music, tV or Film. Acoustics EHP-02Di is a terrific desktop unit which They are normally plugged into the headphone out- can be implemented as the main hub for a computer. put of the Mac Mini. The wonderfully versatile fea- Whether it’s music, games or films through a set of ture of added RCA’s on the 02Di allowed for me – powered speakers or a set of headphones for the the user to be able to have the Soundsticks always same for more intimate listening the EHP-02Di plugged in to what was originally just a headphone won’t fail to impress. amp/dac in the first incarnation of the product the Dan Worth EHP-02D. Build Quality – 7.5/10 Improvements were decisively apparent and immedi- Sound Quality – 8/10 ately noticeable. The Mac itself is fairly modded, has Value For Money – 8.5/10 the fan removed, runs three linear power supplies, is Overall – 8/10 solid state and has OS tweaks. These improvements Price at time of review – £179.99 made a difference at the time to the Soundsticks (and the main system) but utilising the dac from the Recommended for – it’s ability to run headphones Epiphany was a larger step up in performance. and speakers simultaneously and having a terrific sound to pound performance which is neutral, I’ve had many high end active and passive speakers detailed and involving. in the alcove where the desk is but the Soundsticks are of a size that just compliments the space so well.

Headphones are of course used whilst on the move and so Janine Elliot takes a listen to the £190 Graham Slee Voyager headphone amplifier.

eadphones are of course used whilst on the in 1998 and has received rave reviews in Europe and move and so Janine Elliot takes a listen to the States. Graham is always keen to advertise his Hthe £190 Graham Slee Voyager headphone products as ‘Made it Britain’, and his ability to get amplifier. the best from the components he uses is truly inspir- Graham Slee is renowned for putting big ideas in ing. As a happy owner of the Solo headphone amp, I small packages. His large collection of low–to–mid hoped that his battery operated Voyager would also priced phono stages and headphone amplifiers began

77 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews offer an equally precise and extended audio-stage into my choice of cans. It was solid There are, of course, a wide range of Walwart-fed headphone amplifiers around, largely introduced to extend the feeble output levels of the iPod fraternity, but not particularly when paired with inefficient high impedance 300ohm professional headphones such as Sen- nheiser HD650’s. I regularly used these cans as a reference point in my last years at the BBC, but forceful, when connected to my iPod these needed to be fed at full volume to get anything approaching a nominal level of sound. By adding an extra ‘oomph’ via an external amplifier a reasonable 320kbps of mp3 precise but could actually sound quite musical. But, I kept asking myself, what is the point in playing compressed audio in the home? Much as I loved my Solo, it was not clinical. only ever used in the house when I was too lazy to present its parent compact disk into my main Krell CD player. No, what I needed was a portable unit I could carry around with me when I wasn’t in the confines of my sofa. ponents hand soldered by, as Slee puts it; “time served engineers” from premium through-hole Ni- In the last few years numerous portable battery oper- chicon capacitors, to the two highly reputable op- ated headphone amps have appeared as we get on amps from Analog Devices. Unlike most headphone with our busy lives. We need our music in the amps gracing the pages of Amazon, this product ooz- streets, on the bus, train or tube, and as a teacher am es quality when viewed from the inside; high quality often finding it playing merrily away during lessons Jalco 3.5mm jacks for input and headphone output, in my students ears, until of course I confiscate it. To Alps switches, and a miniature Alps “velvet” potenti- get that greater sound output for inefficient cans, ometer similar to the Alps AC27/30 that is often more and more companies such as FiiO are coming found on expensive amplifiers, complete the work. out with really good looking kits and supplying pro- Even a little red LED warns you when the Voyager prietary Apple 30 pin – to – 3.5mm connectors is switched on during the conservative 50 hours bat- which allow you to mitigate the degrading EQ sec- tery life. As well as on/off switch there is provision tion of the amplifiers via the headphone socket. for the unit to be powered by USB or mains. A contour switch (more on that later) completes the me- chanics. Quality also exudes in the audio. A velvety, almost valve-like quality of sound immediately becomes apparent, and improves the longer I listen. All tops and bottoms are there; the Sennheiser demonstrates just how good its bass end is when listening to Mars, The Planets, Karajan (Decca 417 709-2). It’s not so much the double bass or kettle drums, but more the sounds of the lorries driving past the cellos outside of the Sofiensaal concert hall in Vienna, before it got burnt down in 2001. I could sense the windows, brick walls and the raised wooden flooring. Even where the microphones were placed, and when the The Graham Slee Voyager is another addition to the conductor turned the page. family of portable headphone amps. What makes this unit different from many is the use of discrete com- Top ends are very precise and not tiresome with extended listening. Indeed, that is what makes this unit

78 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews so much better than many I have listened to. Only the tight headband of the HP650 forced me to change to …this product my comfortable closed-back Audio-Technica ATH- W1000 Sovereign’s. The latter are unusually mid- certainly band heavy, but the Voyager didn’t make this painful at all. Indeed, the midband opened up with a clarity I had not heard from the iPod alone. This was getting warrants my fun. To check this further I played The Dave Bru- beck Quartet at Carnegie Hall recording, a recording fully of mid frequency weightiness. Even the close- take on the mic’d cymbals sounded pleasant and not out of place. Of course, I could turn on the contour switch which adds further bass and treble weight (just like famous those ‘Loudness’ controls in ancient hi-fi amplifiers), but I didn’t want my £600 cans to sound like Beats by Dr Dre. That said, it wasn’t at all bad when I had statement a go; ideal for low level listening, or when competing with traffic noise, or making a crass recording or bad headphone sound more exciting. This unit did it “Never mind he with aplomb and without the added distortion that a loudness control can often bring. The soundstage was powerful and it wasn’t chaotic despite all that width, feel the was going on in ‘Repentance’ (Dream Theatre; ‘Sys- tematic Chaos’). The distorted bass guitar and synco- pated rhythm sounded quite natural as had the 11/4 quality”. and 5/4 time in Brubeck earlier. This was quite some kit. budget non mass-produced product such as this, and the unit is actually very well constructed and protects the circuitry inside. A specifically designed case including a thinner lithium-ion battery would increase the cost substantially. A metal stamp on one side la- belled with all the connections and company logo do give it a professional feel. It’s ironic that the Slee Solo headphone amp in its metal box is so revered in China, yet the bucket loads of Chinese-made portable headphone amps deluging Amazon at lower cost look so much better than the Voyager. BUT, and I stress but, they do not sound anything as musical or inspiring. Yes, there are better portable headphone amps around, but at £190 you get more than your money’s worth with the Voyager, and if you’re hap- It was solid but not forceful, precise but not clinical. py to put up with its distinctive looks, then this prod- I mentioned earlier about the exuding quality inside uct certainly warrants my take on the famous the box. Unfortunately that is where it ends. The out- statement “Never mind he width, feel the quality”. side lets it down a tad, giving it the impression of Janine Elliot being more of a Maplin kit; made of plastic and at Sound Quality – 8.7/10 12.5 x 6.7 x 2.8 cm, whilst it matches an iPod girth it Value for Money – 8.2/10 is quite deep in order to house the 9v PP3 battery, Build Quality – 8/10 and even deeper when you sit the iPod on the top. However, an off-the-shelf box is inevitable in a Overall – 8.4/10

was rather surprised when the Verto squeezed The Verto is a small black 110 x 105 x 165mm box through the front door, particularly as this prod- with two Neutrik 6.3mm & XLR Combi sockets for Iuct itself is only the size of a very large wallwart XLR or dynamic and planar headphones, a three po- power supply. Luckily, my surprise turned to excite- sition silver knob to select the correct impedance, ment when I dived down to the bottom of the mas- and a permanent short lead ending in a 6.3mm jack sive box between the foam to find the RKV Mk3, a which is then connected to one of the two headphone heavy eight-valve headphone amplifier behemoth sockets of the RKV (or to the headphone socket of accompanying this unit. During my few weeks with your integrated amp). That is all quite normal. As these products I had many more surprises, lots of ex- well as a pair of loudspeaker connections what is citement, and a lot of questions to ask. slightly unusual is the Teflon 6-pin socket to power 300V and 580v 6 pin and 5 pin Stax electrostatic ear

80 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews speakers. As a passive unit, and costing a reasonable You could sense the £690, this unit uses transformers in step up mode with an array of capacitors to store up enough power importance of to drive the electrostatics. Because the input wattage is very low (around 400mW) this can take several minutes. This technique is nothing new. Passive en- showing the ergisers like the Verto have been around before. In- deed, I remember with affection the late 1970’s PWB machinery that made electrostatic headphones that took their power from the speaker terminals of your power amplifier. That it all ‘work’, and in was Peter Belt at his very best, before he and his wife got into somewhat questionable audio tweaks like this case included 8 sound-changing furniture polish and silver paper. The Verto was originally designed for the RKV mark valves towering from 1 and 2. Those two models only have the unique OTL output (Output Transformerless), a bit like my a bright red PCB, the old EarMax headphones, so the switch for 8 and 32 ohm headphones on the Verto was quite useful. The terrain for a city of RKV iii has provision for a wide range of low impedance cans as well, which therefore means a bit of individually soldered duplication of features if both are used together. Since the Verto can be switched to 8 ohm you can components. connect loudspeakers to those speaker terminals, though with the Mark 3 RKV, with its own speaker outputs, there was no point in using this facility. to shine. It reminded me of university days looking endlessly at my knickers revolving at 200mph in the Whilst the VKR was a beautiful looking product the campus washing machines. I really needed to con- Verto was in comparison a Friday afternoon job, be- nect a DAC with enough oomph to get this thing ing made of two halves joined together, and those playing games, I mean music. I then connected the joins were easily evident and spoilt my first impres- speaker jacks in reverse mode to my 250W Krell le- sion of product build (see photo). The first two clicks viathan to see if that would drive the Stax but after on the silver knob on the front select 8 and 32 ohm 10 minutes there was no light and all I got was a very impedance for the conventional headphones with the low level and no bass. Selecting conventional head- third position, OTL, for a Stax ear speaker. Unfortu- phones did give me both legs working this time, but nately my Verto wasn’t going play music for me. there was some hum, suggesting earthing damage on The 6.3mm jacks only worked on the left leg and its trip across the English Channel. My role was as a whilst I sat waiting endlessly for the LED on the reviewer, and not as fault finder, so I continued my front of the box to light up to tell me there was review looking at the RKV mk3 as a conventional enough voltage to work the Stax, it was never going headphone amplifier. Such a shame, as I know this unit can sound so good. AudioValve, not to be confused with Valve Audio, is a small German brand who has been making some quite iconic and mid-priced valve based audio since 1982. Like many an audio CEO, boss Helmut Becker was a musician, himself a guitarist and music enthu- siast who began building amplifiers 40 years ago when he was 15. Indeed, his father was the owner of a small electronics business, and even as a 12 year old, Becker would often be seen tinkering with tube televisions in his father’s shop; taking them apart and getting to grips with the way they worked. Interest-

81 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews ingly, his career has not just been devoted to audio, Having listened to and owned a sizeable collection of as it has also included numerous medical patents, headphone amplifiers, the £3262 RKV is one of the including to fundamentally revolutionising analysis most expensive. The instruction manual was very techniques for the detection of blood coagulation detailed, though the German to English translation was amusing in places; particularly the way it went from highly proficient and poetic nuances to phrases usually seen in the Chinese to English translations of cheap Amazon purchases. Apparently “the care ten- sions are won from a strong, free of litter, Torodial- transfomator”. Whether you are a big or small company the instruction manual is a core part of the package, and as such, detail should go into this vital component. The top acrylic plate is machined with an array of ventilation slots for the tubes. The rest of the chassis is crafted from laser-milled stainless steel, rather than times. aluminium, as Becker says it ‘sounds’ better. The Taking my first look at the RKV mark 3 was certain large red PCB and components are of the highest to increase my own blood pressure. The model in quality and hand soldered liberally and sensibly, and this test was the third incarnation of the RKV, the with affection. original dating back to 1982. Just like the predeces- On the front panel there are two combi headphone sors this larger 10kg 400 x 340 x 150mm monster sockets, just as on the Verto, and below these is the was a sea of blackened steel and plastic (also availa- Mode switch. This switch selects either high-imped- ble in silver or limited ivory editions), with large ance headphones (> 100 Ohms), or in the second po- front and top Plexiglass windows that proudly re- sition allows you to select from five low impedance vealed everything inside. You could sense the impor- (8, 16, 32, 64, 128 ohm) settings in the next knob. tance of showing the machinery that made it all Why a single 6-position knob wasn’t used, I didn’t ‘work’, and in this case included 8 valves towering get a chance to ask. from a bright red PCB, the terrain for a city of individually soldered components. It looked magnificent With the last of the three rotary switches, you could and needed to be seen! The components were all top select the source you want to listen to. The manual class with a Pikatron transformer, OPA134 op amps, suggests that there were 45 RCA inputs at your dis- and a fully automatic biasing servo controller circuit- posal, but my limited algebraic knowledge brought ry, which he has in all his amplifiers to regulate the that figure down to 5, or maybe 7. Let me explain; valves. And the valves themselves, number PCL805, there are 5 RCA sockets (the fifth being a very sim- he designed himself. The previous incarnation had ple, but useable “old school design” MM phono- four of them. stage input), and inputs 1 and 2 were paralleled with two XLR balanced inputs. There is a pair of speaker terminals, should you wish to drive the respectable 5.8W output into efficient drivers, though for my 4 ohm B&W 804s the output level was insufficient to drive them. Indeed, the sound quality was nothing to write home about. Completing the socketry is a pair of male XLR sockets to connect to a power amplifier. This piece of equipment was festooned with pos- sibilities, and could easily be placed at the centre of a respectable hi-fi set up. Perhaps Mr Becker was trying to do too much in the reasonably priced £3262 presentation. So to the tests. I wanted to ensure that, despite the imposition of Verto testing, this product was given

82 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews an opportunity to shine. Not only did I listen to CD The instruments all came and vinyl sources, but I also included mp3 and FLAC. to life; the woodwinds One of the drawbacks of listening on headphones is sounding like birds and that because of the closeness of the source to our ears we only hear an exaggerated sound stage, because the trumpets like crickets. none of what is in the left gets to the right, and vice versa, unlike with our ears when we are listening to live sources or loudspeakers. Angled ear speakers, such as Stax Lambda electrostatics, go part the way ple to test the depth and power of soundstage and into making the experience less stressful, but this separation of instruments, particularly with a varied AudioValve unit has the provision to allow some of collection of distant brass instruments, glockenspiel, each channel’s information to reach the other chan- celesta, coconuts, wind machine and thunder maker. nel, and which can narrow the soundstage, making it The instruments all came to life; the woodwinds more realistic and, in their words, “less mental sounding like birds and the trumpets like crickets. stress”. However, unlike those wonderful ambisonic This was as real as it could get. There was richness in recordings I listened to back in the 1970’s, there is all the harmony, and at times it could sound a tad no time delay, as there would be in reality. Indeed, it carried away in this powerful recording. The third caused me a bit of mental stress trying to work out movement has a lovely solo violin part, which, par- where exactly this facility was on the AudioValve. ticularly through HD650′s, seemed to wander from Again, an unclear instruction manual. left to right depending on whether there were low or high notes. Maybe it was a windy day in Arizona. Now, you might be starting to think that all I do is The intense instrumentation in the fifth movement criticise. I’d like to think that actually I just make during the storm scene was, for most of the time, on- sensible observations, and, once I started to listen to ly a storm in a tea cup for this player. the sound, I wasn’t that bothered about my qualms anymore. Once I was constrained between the ear- I then turned to an equally complex hotchpotch, Mar- pads of my Sennheiser’s, Audio-Technica’s and tyn Bennett’s Grit, though this ‘busy’ album was a Grado’s, all I wanted to do was experience more and handled a lot more panache than in many headphone more of my vast archive of music. I found that with amplifiers. Pat Metheny Group The Way Up was as impedance adjustment my Audio-Technica’s sound- sweet as treacle; perfectly executed, with warm but ed better than I had managed on any other headphone musically precise cymbals, and again everything is amp, though the Sennheiser HD650 was a bit too up front, a very full sound, but just so right. Tube bass heavy. I listened to my Holst Planet Suite, Kara- hiss was virtually non-existent (100dB S/N ratio) jan (Decca 417 709-2), just as I had with the £190 and, with a bandwidth from 10 – 150,000Hz, no in- Graham Slee Voyager test. There was much more strument would be spared. This was more than fun, weight in this offering, and the sound was more for- and took listening on headphones to a completely ward. It was more far more authoritive, largely due new level. This was no side salad; this was thick to the larger available output stage, and I had to be stew and dumplings. It was able, as its creator sug- careful to set the impedance correctly and not turn gested, to render unparalleled “harmonic richness”. the volume up too much. I felt at times the enormous This machine was no slouch. It had the energy of the powerhouse led to a little confusion in some of the Scottish Independence YES voters. This was more music, compared to other amplifiers, and especially than just an acoustic statement, more than just a electrostatics. For that reason I then turned to a com- headphone amplifier, and it was beautiful, too. My poser 8 hours away across the pond and a work com- only worry was that it was perhaps though trying too posed 15 years later, Ferde Grofe and his Grand hard to be everything to everyone. Canyon Suite (Naxos 8.559007). Both are program- Janine Elliot matic works; this one is about donkeys wandering Sound quality 8.55/10 across the Arizona desert. It is a powerfully creative Value for money 8.4/10 drama, something I fell in love with at the age of 10, when my imagination could whisk me across the At- Build and design quality (RKViii) 8.5/10 lantic in an instant. This CD would be a great exam- Overall 8.5

83 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews Tisbury Audio CA-1 Reference Headphone Ampifier Stuart and Harry Smith’s thoughts on the little Tisbury CA-1 Headphone Amplifier that is made in the UK and costs £349

isbury Audio are a small company based in the fact that a wallwart power supply is used. The the UK that currently makes just two prod- second thing you notice is that it’s actually quite an Tucts, the Mini Passive Preamplifier that we attractive beast with its solid American black walnut took a listen to and enjoyed a few months ago and side cheeks and bottom “plate” which compliment the product on test here, the CA-1 Headphone Am- the 3mm aluminium enclosure pretty nicely. OK, this plifier. On the Tisbury Audio website the company isn’t going to win any international awards for its make a point of stressing that the majority of the aesthetics but it’s simple, functional and good look- parts that make up the CA-1 are sourced from British ing. Size-wise the CA-1 is 204 x 170 x 74 mm so it’s manufacturers. The price of the unit is £349 includ- pretty compact and bijou. ing free international shipping and a three year war- Round the back you get a couple of good quality ranty which all seems to be very reasonable indeed. RCAs for inputting your source, in this case our ref- Out of the box the first thing that strikes you is how erence Valve Audio Devices DAC 10 fed via USB light the CA-1 is and this is in no small way down to from a dedicated laptop running JPlayer and JRiver

84 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews and playing FLAC files, there’s an on off toggle Immediately on switch and the socket for the power supply to plug into. Flip it round to have a look at the front panel plugging in the and this too keeps things to a functional minimum. There’s a proper quarter inch jack Neutrik socket, an Alps Blue Velvet pot, a toggle switch for the high ‘phones and putting and low gain output modes (6 dB (2x) and 16 dB (6.3x) gain) and an LED to show you it’s plugged in on the tunes it’s and functioning. Build quality looks to be simple and of a good quality. The CA-1 has a nifty little muting pretty clear that this circuit onboard which essentially disconnects your precious headphones if the AC power supply is inter- is a good sounding rupted or switched off. For the purposes of this review the main cans used little box with good were the 20 Ohms Audeze LCD-XC headphones we have in for review and have listened to extensively transparency that but we’ll also be trying it out with some other cans. Sound allows you to get on Tisbury claim the noise floor is very low with the CA-1 and it is, there’s no distinguishable noise what- with listening to the soever as far as I can tell on the low output or high output at normal listening levels and with no music tunes playing you have to turn the volume pot all the way to the top to get any noise at all. With regards volume it goes plenty loud enough with the Audeze’ and to get on with listening to the tunes. Eels’ Novacaine I wouldn’t think anyone but the most hard of hear- For The Soul shows there to be a really nice sleek ing, or those with a deaf wish would need to crank sound in the upper frequencies and vocals. The this up to anywhere near the max –Tisbury give a strings are lush, full and luxuriant. In the lower end figure of 3.4V and 725mW at 16ohms and there’s bass there but I’m not sure it has the required 8.3V/115mW at 600ohms. With the more demanding heft to it that I enjoy with this kind of tune. Likewise HifiMan HE 560s you need to crank the volume pot on the Body Count track Bowels Of The Devil I just a bit but again all is well and likewise with the Sen- feel there’s something missing, as if the amp is being nheiser HE 800s and their IE 800s. a little on the polite side. However, popping on the wonderful Kathryn Wil- liams’ Crown Electric album you are rewarded with absolutely gorgeous vocals and a great lush feel to the strings (again) that defies the moderate asking price of this little unit. I’m reminded here of my old 300B PSE amp (no bad thing) and it comes as a bit of a surprise as it’s clear that what we have here with the CA-1 is a refined and sophisticated sound that will immediately appeal to those that listen to “audiophile” type music or enjoy a more well-mannered sound. Reviewing kit can be a soul destroying pass-time at times as you need to concentrate and listen in a criti- cal way, but with the little CA-1 I genuinely found myself just listening to Williams’ record the whole Immediately on plugging in the ‘phones and putting way through and loving every minute. Bass isn’t the on the tunes it’s pretty clear that this is a good sound- deepest I’ve heard but it’s ok for this kind of music. ing little box with good transparency that allows you

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson’s Winter In For those looking for a relaxed but accurate presenta- America is one of my go to records to get an idea of tion without bells and whistles then this is a very what’s happening with relation to getting a feel for good choice for the money. the recording space and with the CA-1 in place it’s a Jazz fans will love it and with female vocals it’s a pretty good effort. Not as good as the best I’ve heard, lovely little unit with an audiophile sound that will or as good as my own reference, but very acceptable surely appeal to a good number of people. for the asking price. The soundstage is not as wide as I would have liked but again, at this price it’s very It drove all the headphones I used with it admirably acceptable. Vocals appear to be slightly pushed to and with good control over most of the frequency the fore but the tops are smooth and slightly rounded range and does have a slight valvey feel to it- think out. 300B midrange. Overall the Tisbury is a unit that deserves to do well For those looking for and given its price point I’m sure it will. Stuart Smith a relaxed but Build Quality – 8/10 Sound Quality – 8/10 accurate Value For Money – 8.5/10 presentation Overall – 8.17/10 Price at time of review – £349 without bells and Recommended for those looking for a smooth, audiophile sounding headphone amplifier that gets whistles then this is on with the job at a good price. a very good choice for the money.

Chie Ayado’s version of the Beatles Don’t Let Me Down from her Good Life record again plays to the strengths of the little Tisbury unit. The piano is natural sounding and there is a good insight into the per- former’s very distinctive voice. And this is what I mean about this unit appealing to those that like to listen to audiophile music; push it too far with music that demands a more dynamic sound and it loses out to the competition a little – here I’m thinking of the And now it’s over to our tame teenager in residence likes of Deep Purple’s Made In Japan version of Harry to give his perspective on the Tisbuy CA-1 Smoke On The Water which although sounding OK didn’t inspire me and get me rocking as it should. isbury Audio is a relatively new company that only makes 2 products at the moment (the Conclusion TCA-1 and a passive preamplifier). The Tisbury CA-1 is a fine sounding little headphone I was given the Headphone Amp, the Challenge Amp amplifier that does have some limitations when pre- 1 to review that retails for just under £350. For my sented with rock and more complex bass heavy mu- review I used it with a Schiit Modi DAC and various sic. Some will enjoy this some won’t. pairs of headphones. The amp looks great and stands out from the crowd with its bold design.

Most importantly I personally thought it sounded best with my own pair of NAD viso hp50s which I also feel are very this amp is “true to the music”. The sound is tailored towards strong female vocals and punchy guitar riffs. It also brought dance music handmade in the beats to life. However I thought the track that sounded the best UK. It’s great to with the CA-1 was ‘Loose yourself to dance’ by Daft punk, the signature Nile Rodgers guitar rhythm has see that Made in never sounded so good. I could actually pinpoint where all the instruments were in my head which is very impressive. England stamp on The sound stage is very wide and provides plenty of bass. The mid and the top end are very bright and a relatively low colourful. It brings a lot of life to the music and is versatile enough to be enjoyed by lovers of all kinds priced product. of music. I didn’t experience any background noise and no irri- tating buzz that you can find with a lot of amps. There is no “pop!” when turning the amp on and off The brushed metal chassis is enclosed with wood that I have found with other amps, both of which are which gives it a “retro” look. It is very tactile with great plus points in my view. the contrasting use of materials. It’s also not too “in All round the looks and sound combine to an almost your face” and can sit proudly on any desk or Hi-Fi perfect headphone amp for the price (£349 is a lot of rack. money but considering the quality that you are get- Most importantly this amp is handmade in the UK. ting it is valid). It’s great to see that Made in England stamp on a relatively low priced product. This amp is very The layout is very simple: one knob to increase or decrease the volume, a switch to change between “true to the music” high and low gain and an ON/OFF switch on the back. Couldn’t be more simple! Not only is the design fantastic, the build quality is and can easily also exceptional. It feels solid but also surprisingly lightweight (thanks to the external power supply.) To show the flaws in a be fair this is the level of build quality that I expect from a Made in England product, though sadly this is not always the case. cheaper pair of To test the sound I tried to listen to as many music genres as I could (dance music, folk, rock, jazz, dub- headphones. step, and hip hop.) Obviously avoiding classical music (which I can’t listen to for more than 2 A definite recommendation for anyone wanting to minutes…) enter the Head-Fi world, on a smaller budget. This amp is very “true to the music” and can easily Harry Smith show the flaws in a cheaper pair of headphones. Sound- 9/10 Thankfully Tisbury offer a 30 day free trial so you Value- 8/10 have the time to find what sounds best with it before you actually buy it. Build quality- 10/10 Overall- 9/10

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Eric Clapton And Friends - Hawkwind With Brian Blessed - Breeze, An Appreciation of JJ Sonic Attack Cherry Red Cale Bushbranch/Surfdog K, I don’t usual- merican singer ly do reviews of songwriter JJ singles but hey, Cale died in July O A Hawkwind are probably 2013 and has been des- my favourite band of all cribed as one of the most time and I just couldn’t important figures in rock resist telling you all history. This record, re- about this absolutely fa- leased earlier this year, bulous collaboration of celebrates Cale’s career the kings of space rock and “kingly thesbian” Brian and here is downloaded Blessed. from HIGHRESAUDIO. It’s a bit of who’s who in laidback/bluesy rock with contributors including You may be subject to fits of Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nel- son, Don White and many more. hysterical shouting Musically it is true to the …SHOUTING!!!! I SAID spirit of Cale’s laidback SHOUTING!!!! style (and Clapton’s for Sonic Attack is a mainstay of the band’s repertoire and certainly a favourite of mine. This version is out that matter) … as a single on the 1st September, I’ve only heard the radio edit so far, and with any luck and a following wind it may even have a bit of an impact on the The title track comes from Cale’s 1972 track “Call charts…we can but hope. Me The Breeze” ( covered by many including Ly- nyrd Skynyrd) and is a great opener to the record’s The Blessed/Hawkwind collaboration has all the 16 tunes. usual sonic histrionics in the background which Hawkfans will recognise and Blessed’s rendition of Musically it is true to the spirit of Cale’s laidback the Sonic Attack vocal is hammed up to the style (and Clapton’s for that matter) and whilst ba- max…and is fab. Surely a must have if you’re a fan rely breaking a sweat it’s none the worse for it. Clap- and accessible enough (sort of) to have appeal to a ton name checked Cale a good deal and it’s clear new audience. there was a huge influence there which shines out on Breeze. Knopler’s vocal and unmistakable guitar sty- You may be subject to fits of hysterical shouting le on Someday is a treat as is Willie Nelson’s country …SHOUTING!!!! I SAID SHOUTING!!!! tinged rendition of Songbid. Don White and Clap- ton’s rendition of I’ll Be There is country tinged blues perfection and Petty’s is so cool it’s practically frozen! Various Artists - Total 14 Kompakt

As you’d expect the production and musicianship on egular readers Breeze is exemplary and it’s hard not to be drawn will be well awa- into the music’s cool and relaxed stylings whether Rre of my love of you are familiar with Cale’s repertoire or not. If the Kompakt label and you’re a fan of Cale or Clapton (or simply enjoy this it’s pretty rare that I don’t kind of relaxed blues music) Breeze is a bit of a must absolutely love every- have and I’ve been playing it to death since it arri- thing that gets released ved. on rhe Berlin imprint.

Here we have number 14 in the popular compilation Various Artists - Gasoline Comeme series Total.

There’s 25 tunes here over two CDs ( also available asoline, on the on a double 12” album) and they range from the so- excellent Come- mewhat banging to the more atmospheric tunes Gme is the labels which has been a staple of the series. There’s a good very first compilation and selection of tunes from the last couple of years on by crikey it’s a good Kompakt as well as a good selection of tunes exclu- one…very much my kind sive to this compilation. of music. For those that However, there’s a lot don’t know Comeme it’s a label that has been ma- more to this album than king all the right noises for me for a year or so now with its pared down, acidic-tribal-techno grooves. the individual tunes and This is body music at its very artists that make it up. best and for lovers of pretty much any kind of dance music Gasoline is a must for Of course this is techno (in its broadest terms) but their collection. it’s an instantly accessible record with some poppier moments. Gasoline brings together music from the inner circle The opening track Dauwd’s Lydia sets the scene with of the Comeme collective and throws a few more a diving drum track and dreamy, ethereal synth lines guests into the mix for good measure. This means over the top that take you higher and higher as the that as well as the likes of Christian S, Ana Helder, tune progresses. Coma’s Atlantis hints at 80s synth Alejandero Paz, Carisma and Djs Preja there’s also pop whilst Gui Boratto featuring Coma and Hell’s Voxels from Portugal, Zombies in Miami from Take Control is everything I expected from Gold- Mexico, Auntie Flo from Glasgow, Rous from Ar- frapp but never really got. And then there’s Thomas gentina, Vaskular from Chile and Bryan Kessler Fehlmann’s tune Eye that has a tribal feel to it which from Cologne. whilst been a little more leftfield than the previously mentioned tunes doesn’t fail to please. Sebastien This is body music at its very best and for lovers of Bouchet’s Broken Heart is a stomper of a tune made pretty much any kind of dance music Gasoline is a to loose it in the early hours of a dark club and then must for their collection. Partial Arts Taifa has echoes of early bleeps and bass tunes..or even Hardfloor. There’s a dubby feel to Aunty Flo’s Jas with its slow yet relentless groove and a rave siren on that sounds However, there’s a lot more to this album than the like its on ketamine, electro vibes from Christian S individual tunes and artists that make it up. There’s a and Bryan Kesler’s Nebel Dance, straight up four to variety of different styles on Total 14, but they work the floor and pounding bass in the form of Ana Hel- together to bring a cohesiveness that just sounds der’s Gasoline and then Vaskular’s Black Jesus takes great. things down again (a little) with lush pads and strings… and yet still there’s that kick, a slightly A record full of tunes equally at home on the dance- jazzy feel and repetitive sample that is reminiscent of floor of one of Berlin’s impossible to get in to uber- acid house. clubs as it is turned up loud and listened to at home. There’s a chilled vibe to most of the tunes that ooze Djs Pareja and Alejandro Paz continue that acid feel quality and as such this record is highly recommen- with the relentless bassline and snappy percussive ded! All thriller and then some floorfillers! Out now. snares with the track Cogeme;;;and yet even here

92 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Album Reviews there’s a lead synth “bleep” thrown in to take your In his lifetime Baxter was frustrated that his music head in a different direction to your body. was confined to the B movie ghetto and not taken as seriously as it should have been by Hollywood. Zombies in Miami’s El Rito takes the BPMs down a tad but continues with the unremitting bass drum In addition to the album Original Quiet Village this kick, weird noises and machine drum percussion, at CD, out now, also contains the album The Primitive times having a feel of Blue Monday…but only a bit, & The Passionate and selections from Exotique: The it’s much weirder than that! Music of Les Baxter. Rous’s A Bailar reminds me of early Antler Subway Musically throughout this collection Baxter main- (remember that label?) whilst Voxels’ K-Hauz has a tains the traditional orchestral ensemble but embel- distinctive Latin feel to it. lishes and builds upon this with percussion and saxophones with the occasional stab of electric or- Gasoline ends with a bit of a jack type track from Djs gan, dulcimer, kazoo and even Theremin. In many Pareja called Si Senor and it sums up the album real- ways it’s hard not to associate the tunes herein with ly nicely… brooding, dark and mental. the music you’d hear on a Sunday afternoon black and white film because it’s just the kind of music I think these people may be on medication of some you would here. This is not to suggest it doesn’t have sort!!! a place in your collection though because it’s most certainly a departure from the mainstream. The song Les Baxter - Original Quiet Simba conjures images of unknown lands with unk- Village él/Cherry Red nown peoples, dangers and pleasures. And this is pretty much the theme throughout this album. There l (via Cherry Red) are touches of afro-rhythms in places, Pacific Island are an interesting choirs and altogether it’s a really pleasant listen. élabel that are putting out some pretty out Bob James - H/Sign Of The Times there and unusual recor- Robin Songs dings. ob James is re- One flick through the garded as one of titles of the tracks on Les Bthe founding fa- Baxter’s Original Quiet Village album will give you thers of the smooth Jazz a good indication that this is exotica as colourful as it sound and has been hea- comes; Shanghai Rickshaw, Deep Night and Gardens vily sampled in more re- of the Moon are just random selection. cent years ( NWA, Run DMC, Soul II Soul, Mis- …he’s widely regarded as the sy Elliot and many mo- most innovative, enduring and re). He began his professional music career at age 8 playing piano for a tap dance class but also plays influential artist associated trumpet, timpani and percussion. with the exotica genre… His association with smooth jazz began in 1972 whilst working with Stanley Turpentine and Milt For the benefit of those that haven’t heard Les Bax- Jackson on the album Cherry and is closely associa- ter’s work before he’s widely regarded as the most ted with Grover Washington Jr and arranged several innovative, enduring and influential artist associated of Washington’s albums. If you’ve not heard of Ja- with the exotica genre and bridges the gap between mes then you may well have heard his music as his the post-war exotica of the late 50s and early 60s and tune Angela, from his breakthrough album Tou- classical exoticism of the likes of Debussy and Ra- chdown, was used as the theme (he also supplied in- vel. cidental music) to the US sitcom Taxi which starred Danny Devito

His first album as the “main man” was 1974s One Look at the line up on but his most well known recording is one of the al- Make Believe It Real and bums present on this two album CD on the Robin- it reads like a who’s who songs label, Sign Of The Times from 1981. The in space rock: Daevid other album herein is 1980’s H and both were origi- Allen of Gong (wishing nally released on the Jame’s own Tappan Zee label. you a speedy recove- ry!!!), Harvey Bainbrid- Hi is recorded at Mediasound in New York and in- ge, Richard Chadwick, cludes Grover Washington Jr, guitarist Hiram Bul- Alan Davey, Simon Hou- lock abd Buddy Williams on the drums. The opening se, Keith The Bass, Nick track, Snowbird Fantasy, has percussion parts played May, Twink…the list goes on and on and on. by Airto Moreira, the Brazilian drummer best known for his work with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew – he Look at the line up on also guests on the albums closing number Reunited. Make Believe It Real Sign Of The Times is the better known of the albums as mentioned and was arranged by Rod Tempterton and it reads like a who’s (Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall and Thriller) with vocals provided by Luther Vandross, Patti Austin who in space rock: and Valerie Simpson. You’ll certainly recognise some of these tunes from more recent samples, even if you don’t know the originals. There are two CDs in this pack and it’s unmistakably most definitely a space rock album, but there are OK, I will admit that the smooth jazz sound isn’t my other elements of a more gentle and less obvious na- go-to choice whilst flicking through the record col- ture in there and it’s really a rather excellent album lection but I do have a good number of Grover indeed, though on initially hearing it I was a bit scep- Washington Jr albums on vinyl and once in a while tical to say the least…most certainly a record that it’s nice to take a break from the norm…and why not needs a few runs through to really get a grip on. a bit of jazz of the smooth variety. Despite the somewhat wishy-washy reputation of the genre, there’s All the tunes on Make Believe are penned by the folk some tunes on these two records that really do stand involved other than the Pink Floyd track Take Up out as being great records. Thy Stethoscope and Walk and all are original to this record I believe, but I had a moment of déjà vu with The better of the two albums is clearly Sign Of The one of the verses in Eternal Energy which I think is Times but hey, who can argue with a two for one lifted from a Hippy Slags’ tune…Cat’s Mother if I deal. If you enjoy the laidback rhythms and relaxed recall. vibes of this kind of music then this is a must. Even if you are a relative stranger to smooth coolness sho- Given the number of folk involved in this album it res then this record has something to offer. I actually should sound all over the place but it doesn’t…it’s really enjoyed it a great deal and there’s clears links coherent and really rather beautiful. The final track to funk, disco and fusion that really appeal to me. on the first CD, Reflections, is a bit of a masterpiece Out now! to my mind and is made up of seven distinct parts Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart and takes a bit of a departure from the space rock formula, adopting a much more progressive and pas- - Make Believe it Real Gonzo toral feel to it and is in the main made up of acoustic instruments…it’s also fourteen minutes long. his album arrived a good while ago and I was really excited when it did as I was a bit of a Needless to say I was always going to love this re- Tfan of the Hippy Slags back in the festival cord and without letting my personal preferences get days and as readers will know a huge fan of in the way I’d suggest that it’s a bit of a must for Hawkwind with who Bridget Wishart performed on anyone with a slight interest in space rock and asso- Space Bandits, Palace Springs, California Brainstorm ciated genres. and Take Me To Your Future.

This month John Scott goes back to August 1972 and re-discovers Deep Purple’s Japanese tour via the deluxe edition of .

herever you are in the world right now, you can bet good money that in a pub Wsomewhere not too far away there are a bunch of blokes (and it will only be blokes, believe me) arguing over The Greatest Live Album In The World. Different pubs attract different clientele. For the prog warlocks at The Keyboard & Cape, the relative merits of Yes' seminal triple live Yessongs ("I was Taliesyn and Deep Purple combined Sixties pop and there, you know -Great performances but the album progressive rock with a hint of psychedelia. The is desperately in need of a Steven Wilson remaster") Book Of Talliesyn featured a ten minute progressive and Hawkwind's mighty Space Ritual ("Of course interpretation of Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep, the correct title is The Space Ritual Live in Liverpool Mountain High although there is no recognisable hint and London. I think I must have been there because I of that tune for the first four and a half minutes, can't, like, remember a single thing about it, man") during which it sounds more like a four and a half are hotly contested amidst much stroking of beards. minute progressive interpretation of Richard Strauss’ Meanwhile, the retro soulboys down at The Beyonce Also Sprach Zarathustra. The band had achieved Castle all agree that James Brown's Live At The commercial success by the time of their third album Apollo sets the standard that other live albums aspire but Blackmore, Lord and Paice had their sights set to. However many different opinions there may be, on a heavier rock sound and feeling that Simper and the regulars in The Tattooed Arms, where denim is Evans would not fit with this, dismissed them from de rigueur and noses are broken (Friday and Saturday nights, no appointment necessary), insist that Deep Purple's Made In Japan in the only right answer and, take it from me, you really, really don't want to disagree with the regulars in the Tattooed Arms, particularly on Friday or Saturday nights. By the time Deep Purple had set out on their tour of Japan in 1972 the band had seven albums under their belt, had gone through one line up change and had been nominated in The Guinness Book Of World Records as the loudest band in the world for a gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London at which the sound levels were recorded at 117 dB and three of the audience were allegedly rendered unconscious. The original line up of the band consisted of Jon Lord on keyboards, Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, bassist Nick Simper and vocalist Rod Evans. The band’s first three albums Shades Of Deep Purple, The Book Of

95 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Classics the band. Ian Gillan was recruited from a band recording equipment that had been supplied and this called Episode Six along with bassist Roger Glover, further lessened their interest in the live album. Jon bringing together what most fans consider to be Lord would later remark however that it was perhaps Deep Purple’s classic line up. this lack of concern about the recording that would Ironically, given their hard rock intensions, their next lead to the spontaneity that is so evident on the album was the live Concerto For Group And album. All three gigs were recorded, with the Orchestra which John Lord had devised as a solo majority of the performances on the album coming project. The album was recorded at The Royal from the Osaka gig on the 16th. The band felt that Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra the Budokan performance was the best of the three under the direction of the highly respected conductor but unfortunately the recording was of a lesser Malcolm Arnold. The rest of the band were quality. Nevertheless, The Mule and Lazy made it to reportedly less than happy with the album and more the album. The only track to come from the first determined than ever to pursue a hard rock style Osaka concert was Smoke On The Water. On which they achieved on their next three albums In completion, all thoughts of a Japan-only release were Rock, Fireball and Machine Head , recorded and immediately shelved and the album went on to sell released between 1970 and 1972; Machine Head over a million copies in the USA alone. reaching number one in the UK album chart. The deluxe edition of Made In Japan brings Deep Purple were now a worldwide success with the together the original mix of the album, along with a band achieving strong record sales in Japan. A short new remix and full recordings of all three individual tour was arranged to capitalise on this and the band’s concerts. The original mix still stands up well but the record company, Warner Bros, wanted to record the new mix brings a greater clarity, particularly to the shows for a subsequent Japan-only release. The drums, which helps to drive the music even harder. band were unenthusiastic about this idea as they felt One thing that has always puzzled me about the that a live recording simply wouldn't provide an album is that the cover photo shows Blackmore on accurate representation of the dynamic performances the right hand side of the stage but the audio has him they gave at their gigs. The Japan tour consisted of positioned to the left. Earlier remasterings apparently three gigs: two at The Festival Hall, Osaka on 15 and corrected this but the deluxe edition retains the 16 August and one at The Budokan in Tokyo on the original configuration on both mixes. The individual 18th. All of the gigs sold out immediately. Deep concert recordings do however have Blackmore on Purple brought along producer Martin Birch who had the right. worked on their most recent albums. Both Birch and Made In Japan opens with Highway Star from the the band had some concerns over the quality of the Machine Head album - four out of Made In Japan's

96 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Classics seven tracks come from Machine Head. The band Is The settle effortlessly into their stride and the pace (or for that matter, the Paice) never lets up from here on in. Actually, things do slow briefly at the start of the Greatest Live Album next track, Child In Time, but not for long with Ian Gillan hitting some literally screaming high notes as In The World? I don't the song builds to intense solos from Lord and Blackmore. Much as, say, I Want To Hold Your know, but you sure Hand encapsulates everything anyone needs to know about sixties pop, Smoke On The Water does the as hell won't be able same for seventies rock. Dun, Dun, Dun; Dun, Dun, Dah-Dun. Is there anyone alive that doesn't know to think of a better how that goes? Five months before Made In Japan was recorded, Japanese soldier Lt Hiroo Onoda was found on a remote Philippines island, unaware that one while you play it. World War II had ended 29 years earlier. I bet even he knew that riff. The next track, The Mule has always struck me as little more than a framework for Blackmore takes over and the band storm through Ian Paice's drum solo. I'm not a great fan of drum this bluesy rocker. The album closes with the 20- solos, either on record or when actually at gigs but minute Space Truckin' - an opportunity for Lord to this one is pretty impressive. As well as showing off shoehorn even more musical quotes into his solos. his drumming skills, Paice is also revealed here as The performance here includes The Planets Suite something of a prophet, foretelling Pro Tools and, I suspect, a whole ho(l)st of classical music mastering and The Loudness Wars when he asks the references that I am not knowledgeable enough to on-stage monitor engineer: "Can we have everything recognise. The versions of Space Truckin' from the louder than everything else?” Strange Kind Of other shows suggest that Lord and Blackmore would Woman features a call-and-response duel between throw in new quotes on a nightly basis - When The Gillan and Blackmore, each trying to catch each Saints Go Marching In, Gimme Some Lovin’ and other out by throwing in some curveballs. Next track Rodrigo's Concerto D'Aranjuez make an appearance Lazy starts with Lord seriously abusing his organ on those recordings along with the theme from TV (fnarff), throwing in snippets of Louie Louie and The cop show Z Cars. The whole band turn in another Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band's Intro and Outro before pile driving performance and when the song finishes, the audience seem to have been pummelled into submission; too dazed to even applaud. So, a tour de force set of performances from a band at the peak of its powers. I'm conscious that I haven't even mentioned bass player Roger Glover who expertly underpins all the songs without the indulgence of any solo showing off, just as all good bass players should. Do you need the deluxe version of Made In Japan. Well, I think you do. As well as two mixes of the original album and hi res audio versions, there are all the three complete concert recordings. These will never replace the Made In Japan album in your affections but they offer a fascinating insight into how the band was keen to play about with the material and are great fun. Is Made In Japan The Greatest Live Album In The World? I don't know, but you sure as hell won't be able to think of a better one while you play it.